Tuesday, November 1, 2016

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,

  

6 comments:

  1. This ended up being really cute anyway!! I always struggle with knits. I love wearing them, but don't care for sewing with them.

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    1. Thank you! I'm picky about the knits I like to work with! I like a cotton spandex blend jersey, with no less than 40% stretch, that is at least 10 oz and preferably 12 oz weight. Those are stable enough to sew without much trouble but stretchy enough to fit comfortably. And I recently discovered that some Ponte knits are nice too. =)

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  2. It looks so pretty! How's the pattern quality? Hmm, I've never had issues with interlock. In fact, it's the first knit fabric I had success with. I've used the Birch Organics one and I think it was Michael Miller (or Riley Blake? not sure anymore). And random no name interlock from fabric.com. I moved away from using it only because it was a bit too thick for what I wanted to make.

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    1. Thank you! The actual pattern pieces are pretty good, with the exception of having two marked fold lines at the sleeve hem. If you've ever used a Lekala or Bootstrap pattern, it's similar to those, and each size is an individual download like you would get from those companies too. For a free pattern, it's pretty impressive! The instructions were okay, but could definitely use some work.
      It must just be something about the quality of Jo-Ann's knits then... I'll have to try some other brands.

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  3. This is a really fun dress style, too! Great job! I can't wait to see your skirt!

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    1. I agree, I love the details it has, and how they work together. Thank you! I'm a little bit stalled on the embroidery right now... I've satin-stitched a rose, and I wanted to do something a little less dense for the leaves and stems, and so far nothing I've tried has looked right!

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