Eva Dress

  Here's another dress I made for another sister-in-love in October!

  This is the Eva dress, a free pattern from Your Style Rocks, and one that I've admired since it was first released. 

  I wanted to make this in dark pink jersey knit, but the only pink jersey I had enough of was a baby pink, and, procrastinator that I am, I didn't have enough time to order anything, so I spent some time in Jo-Ann's searching for something that would work. Of course, they don't have much in the way of nice knits, so I ended up with an overpriced cotton interlock. And honestly, I wish I'd just used the baby pink.

  I don't know if it's just the quality of Jo-Ann's interlock, or interlock in general, but it's a struggle every time I use it... it stretches completely out of shape and even with new needles my serger hates it. It also pilled up a bit when I washed it, but since I'd spent quite a bit on it even after a coupon and obviously couldn't bring it back to the store after washing, I was committed to making it work! And I think the dress turned out all right in spite of the fabric! A bit wavier in places than I'd like, even after a good steaming, but hopefully not too awful. ;-)

  A gave me her actual measurements in addition to her size, so I used those to figure out which size of the pattern to download. Unfortunately not all of the margins printed (possibly because I was using letter-sized paper instead of A4?) but I think I managed to line everything up right anyway!

  While the actual pattern pieces were pretty decent, particularly for a free pattern, the instructions had me puzzled a couple of times, and I'm usually great at working that kind of thing out! I'm still not sure if I hemmed the sleeves the right width!

  I decided to machine-sew the pleat in the back for a couple of inches instead of tacking it at the waistline by hand from the outside. My hand-stitching usually isn't secure enough for things like this. 

  These front pleats are my favorite bit of the whole dress, even if they did end up a bit wavy in this fabric:

  I used a twin needle with bulky nylon in the bobbin for all of the top-stitching again.

  I haven't heard whether or not this one fit yet. Isn't this style pretty though? I'd like to make it again in a jersey like I'd initially planned... I think the neckline draping would look a lot better in a thinner fabric.

  In addition to all of the October birthday gifts (I still have two left to post about, plus a pair from September and one from November) I've been working on a skirt for myself. I finished the construction last week and have been spending every chance I get adding some embroidery to it... I'm really enjoying the process! 

 

Thanks for stopping by,