Hello in 2018!
It's good to start the year right so I thought I would blog for a change. 2017 was a bad year for sewing - I lost my sewjo, went on longish holiday and when I got back I had to focus heavily on studying for my exams. I still made some clothes but took no photos and no blogging happened. This year I'm hoping on sewing more and hopefully also blogging regularly. Oh, and keeping better sewing notes so I know exactly what I made and when.
Anyway, back in October I needed something to keep me motivated - I was studying for hours and hours after work and my spirits were low. I decided that a new piece of fabric was what I needed! I visited our local craft store Made Marion and found the most amazing cotton print - otters chilling in space on teal background (fabric designed by Tula Pink).
I had the perfect pattern for this fabric - the Chai dress by Itch to Stitch has been released few months before and I got it the moment I saw it. I have a weakness for shirt dresses and I really like Itch to Stitch patterns - they fit me very well and they come with different cup sizes which means no FBA required!
The hardest part of making this dress was actually cutting it - I wanted the print to match across the bodice front which meant making sure that all 6 pattern pieces are cut the right way. Surprisingly this took forever! The front is pretty well matched - not perfectly but I can live with it.
I chose size 16 with a D-cup. I only made one change - I shortened the sleeves. Initially I wanted to make a sleeveless dress but after couple of tries with a bias bind finish I just couldn't get it to sit nicely, hence the sleeves. The pattern is designed well and the fit is pretty good - I could have sized down in the waist and I was contemplating making size 14 with a DD-cup but decided against that - mainly because I can always take the dress in but it's much harder to make it bigger ;) The instructions were very clear and I followed most of them but I used Four Square Walls method for sewing the collar - I find it less fiddly and gives me nicer finish than the method suggested in the instructions.
I'm very pleased with this dress- I love the shape! The dress gets a lot of comments, especially when people realise the print is space otters :) I'm thinking about making another one, maybe in solid, drapey fabric but I need to search my stash first - I'm going to try to reduce the insane amount of fabric in my house!
Photos were taken by amazing Emma :) Some photos of details to follow!
