Cosy Heather weather.

So, finally got around to making a Sewoverit Heather dress.  I knew I would want to make it as soon as I first saw it.  It's a jersey, panelled dress with pockets.  What more could you want for a cosy winter, easy-to-throw on dress.

 I made mine all one colour in this lovely quality ponte roma jersey from Dragonfly fabrics. It's a viscose/poly/elastane mix in the colour rosewood, ideal for this pattern and I see there are some lovely new colours in Dragonfly that I may be tempted by.  You could, of course, make it in a couple of different colours if you like that look.

It's a great pattern to make up with super instructions, nothing tricky at all really.  I made the size 16 and I think it's a good fit.  I do get a little bit of pooling there at the back, but I don't think it's too bad, not that bothered by it.  I would say that the sleeves are a tad narrow, so if your arms are even remotely wider than the average you might want to add some width to the sleeve.

And, guess what?  it goes remarkably well with the pink denim Lola coat from Sew Over It.  I might just have to make a light wool version of the Lola for winter.  Anyway, the Heather is as great as I'd hoped, a very comfortable, easy to wear comfy, jersey dress... love it!

Itch-to-Stitch the Bonn Shirt dress

So, I've been meaning to sew a shirt dress for ages and, in fact, have many, many sewing patterns for shirt dresses, but when the #sewtogetherforsummer girls picked a shirt dress as the challenge, I decided to go for it. (I've been rather slow in blogging this with holidays etc, so this years challenge is over, but I'm sure there will be another one next year) After much consideration, I plumped for the Itch-to-stitch Bonn shirt dress, which is, I suppose quite a classic dress in that it has a slight V-neck, small collar, button front and 4 sleeve options.

 I had great success last summer with my Emily culottes and the sizing seems to work well for me.  Also she gives a lot of sizing details and options (A to DD cup size) which means you can pretty much tailor the fit to your own size and shape.

For the dress I used a muted blue floral cotton lawn from dragonfly fabrics, which I can't seem to find on the website now, so I guess it must have sold out, but it was the perfect weight for a summer shirt dress.

 I also made a shirt version in an ikat from Faberwood, which I'm afraid is also sold out, but again it is a lovely weight and perfect for this pattern.  You can see the collar and neckline detail in the above picture, just a simple placket and collar.  I went for the short sleeve in both versions, but you have the option of  3/4, long or flared cuff.  I might be thinking of a long sleeved one for the autumn.

 The shirt version has a curved hemline front and back, which gives a nice bit of shape.

I made the size 12C and with the shape of the bust darts I'm pleased with the fit of it.

I think, if you're considering a classic fit shirt dress this is a great one to start with and not too tricky. The instructions on Itch-to-Stitch patterns are very detailed and you are pretty much hand-held the whole way.