Welcome to my first official blog post from my new West Nashville apartment! 😉 I spent all of last weekend moving and then unpacking (which, I finished the unpacking part in a little under 4 days – a record for me! I REALLY hate living out of boxes haha), and things are *mostly* back to normal here 🙂 I’m still waiting for maintenance to come help me hang my shelves before my sewing room is really finished, but it’s usable for now and actually quite wonderful. I already love it here so so much and I cannot wait to show y’all more!
In the meantime, let’s look at another old make that I never got around to posting! Haha! Pretty sure I wore this dress on Mother’s Day, in fact 😛
The pattern I used is the La Sylphide from Papercut Patterns, which I’ve made a few times before (although not for a few years) (see: plaid La Sylphide top, chambray La Sylphide top, and all 3 pattern variations that I made for the La Sylphide sewalong on the Papercut blog) It’s an oldie, but definitely a goodie! I had almost completely forgotten about the pattern, to be honest, until I saw a sleeveless version on one of my Instagram lurkings . I am ALL ABOUT some sleeveless anything when summer rolls around, so this shit was right up my alley!
Making this dress without sleeves was about as easy as just not cutting them out of the fabric 🙂 Ideally, I should have raised the underarm just a bit, but I didn’t think about that while I was cutting my fabric so they are a little low (the underarms need to be lower if there are sleeves, so you have movement. If you are leaving the sleeves off, taking up the underarm seam a bit will result in a closer fit that looks much better. Here’s a post about that on the Grainline blog!), but I think they are fine as they are. I finished the arm holes with bias facing (I used a plain blue silk crepe in my stash, since I was on a massive shortage of my main print) aaaand I guess that’s it!
My fabric a very lightweight silk from one of my favorite discount fabric stores in the Garment District, Fabrics for Less (honestly, most of those discount stores kind of blend together into one BIG AWESOME discount store – which is why I have a really hard time giving people “Garment District Shopping Tips” when they ask – but I do remember Fabrics for Less and Chic Fabrics, and they are awesome. And cheap!). It’s labeled as a designer fabric, although I couldn’t tell you who the designer is. I love the giant zigzag print and navy/white is one of my fave color combinations, so this one was a real win. Especially since it kind of reminds me of a comic book, thanks to the dots and this big zigzags. It wasn’t necessarily the cheapest fabric in the shop – I don’t remember what I paid for it, probably somewhere around $15-$20 a yard – but it was certainly cheaper than getting the same print at, say, Mood Fabrics. If Mood even had this print, I mean :P.
ANYWAY, I was feeling the wallet pinch when I discovered this bolt waiting for me, so I only bought about a yard and a half. HA HA. I don’t know how the hell I was able to eek this dress out of such a small amount of fabric (at 44″ wide, no less!), but I somehow managed. Cutting everything on a single layer, as well as throwing print-matching out the window, certainly helped.
Cutting this dress was an absolute fucking nightmare. I was in a pretty bad mood to begin with that day – so I don’t know why I thought that cutting silk would make me feel better, but it was quite the opposite effect. I had to Tetris the shit out of the pieces to get everything to fit, and even then, there still wasn’t enough fabric. The neck tie is pieced, although it’s not noticeable. I also didn’t match anything – including the center front, which is where it actually would have mattered. Whoops. I reckon the print is so busy, you can’t tell that it’s haywire. Especially with that bow hanging in front of it. Also, next time – I won’t cut silk while I’m in a foul mood. Promise.
All complaining aside, this wasn’t a bad make to assemble – after I got over the drama involved with the cutting. I cut my usual size – XXS. All the inside seams are French seams, which I never regret putting the effort into (so pretty and neat!). The arm holes, as I mentioned, are finished with silk crepe bias facing. The neckline is enclosed thanks to the neck tie, and the bottom has a simple rolled hem. The buttons are some beautiful vintage buttons I’ve had in my stash for years – I think they were originally a gift from my sister-in-law (anytime you see awesome buttons on a make, you can bet they were probably given to me from her. She seriously gives the best gifts!). I’m so happy I finally found a suitable garment for them! 🙂 Be warned that the skirt on this dress is really really short – I am 5’2″, and you can see how short it is even on me! – so you may want to lengthen before cutting, or at least measure so you know what you’re getting into.
Overall, I do like it! The waist ended up being a bit looser than what I’m used to – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I like a little bit of a breeze in this heat. I even kind of like the way the print is all crazy and disjointed. I’ve been meaning to make this pattern out of silk or chiffon (or something equally floaty) basically since I first got it, and I’m happy to report that it was worth the effort! It’s definitely fun to wear – as long as I’m careful about accidental flashing, ha. I told you – that skirt is SHORT! But so am I, so I guess that makes us equals.
LLADYBIRD 