Little Blue Dress

It's almost mid-November already and I was hoping that my merino dresses would be put aside and wait for next winter... Silly me! It's still cold and I've been living in my merino dresses. I guess spring just decided to skip New Zealand this year! I hope that summer will be stunning to make up for the shity spring we are having now!

Anyway, in winter I prefer close-fitting dresses - it means I can wear more layers to keep myself warm. I decided I needed a simple, lengthened T-shirt dress in my wardrobe and then found perfect merino piece bought over a year ago at Levana in Levin. The pattern I used is Tonic Tee by SBCC and it used to be free to download - now you have to subscribe to receive Tonic Tee and Tonic 2. Now that I think of it I might have used Tonic 2 as the base of my pattern! I need to take proper sewing notes as I can't remember what I made few months ago.

Obviously I lengthened it as much as my fabric would allow. It ended up being too long for my liking so I cut off like 20 cm... Unfortunately I didn't measure anything and just kind of eyeballed where to cut. Guess what? It got so short it wouldn't be decent anywhere, especially not in the office! I had to  use the cut-off piece and make it into a band to make the dress longer.  To make the fit of the dress better I had to take it in around the waistline and then taper the bottom a bit more. I made the neckline deeper as well.

It's one of those very basic dresses but I ended up wearing it quite a lot in winter months. Combined with a black jacket/cardi, slip and thick black tights, this dress was pretty good in the office. And what's most importatnt, it kept me really warm!

T-shirt dress

The easiest dress there is! Take your favourite t-shirt pattern and just extend it by 30-40 cm -in this case I added 32 cm and it worked pretty well. This is another (third) version of Kimono Tee by Maria Denmark. I wasn't sure if the dress was going to be wide/stretchy enough to walk comfortably so I added splits at side seams.

The fabric is a relatively stable knit bought at the Fabric Warehouse during their 40% off sale at the beginning of the year. I was very sensible and came home with three pieces of various black fabrics and those stripes. It never happens - I'm always drawn to patterns and bright colours!

The fabric is quite nice but it's not really stretchy enough for this pattern. The armholes feel a bit tight and there are drag lines that annoy me! Also, I'm still debating adding darts - the idea was to have a loose dress but there is little bit too much fabric in the back.  As usual I finish the neckline by hand and used twin needle to finish the armholes and hem the dress.

Overall, the dress is highly wearable and paired with a jacket or a blazer is one of the most comfortable office outfits I have.