Blue French Terry Dress

  Last fall Booper requested some long-sleeved dresses. I had a floral French Terry that I thought she would like, but decided to a trial run in a heathered blue French Terry first to make sure things fit right.

  I started with Jalie 2805, as usual, and widened and sloped the shoulders a bit. I also added a bit of width through the bodice and sleeves to account for the reduced amount of stretch in the fabric.

  I had the short sleeves already traced in this size, so I ended up just lengthening those to fit Booper, rather than trying to find where I'd (misplaced) the long sleeve pattern piece.

  I measured the bodice height to her actual waist, then added some length because she has a high natural waist, and prefers longer dresses, so it looks more balanced with a longer bodice. I wish I'd added two more inches though, it still ended up looking high!

  I went with a half-circle skirt for this one- it's still a little bit twirly, but isn't as heavy or as much of a fabric hog as a full circle would be.

  I added a facing instead of a neckband, and chose to leave the neckline at the original line so it would be a little bit wider and more comfortable. I stitched the facing down in a collar shape with white thread- that was much more difficult than I expected, because my usual machine was out of commission and my backup machine's foot pedal doesn't work. I had to use the start/stop button, and found it quite awkward! But it turned out all right anyway, although it's more subtle than I'd intended.

  I stitched the back facing the same way. After stitching, I trimmed the facing down close to the stitching so it wouldn't curl up.

  I added some non-stretch embroidered lace trim at the ends of the sleeves and at the hem. I wouldn't use it at the end of the sleeves again, because Booper couldn't push her sleeves up, but it worked fine on the hem.

  I ended up sewing the hem in four passes- I stitched the lace right sides together with the dress, then serged to prevent the fabric edge of the lace from fraying, then pressed it to the wrong side, edge-stitched, and top-stitched. I couldn't get a twin-needle to work on on the machine I was using, or I probably would have gone with that.

  I also added some lace-trimmed pockets.

  The pockets ended up being Booper's favorite detail! I would move them down on the skirt next time so it wouldn't drag the whole dress to the front when she shoved her hands in them. ;-)

  Although there were a few changes I wanted to make, Booper loved this dress and wore it quite frequently last winter. And I ended up loving this color on her!

  I never did get to the floral version though, and I'll have to start with a larger pattern size if I sew it up next year because the armscyes on this one are starting to get too tight for Booper!

  I'm still glad I managed to fit this one in though. =)

Thanks for stopping by,