Happy When It Rains Dress

This is the Happy When It Rains dress, inspired by Shirley Manson of Garbage. It also started raining here in Sydney after a dry spell as I was finishing making this, so the name seemed to fit. It even rained as I walked home this evening.

The fabric is a piece of Viyella a found at a local op shop for $2. Viyella a blend of merino wool and cotton that is soft, light and still fairly warm. It's no longer made so can only be found second hand. This means it's also often hard to find and not cheap, so finding some for so little I had to snap it up.

The piece was quite small - 1.3m by about 90cm - so I was limited in what I could make. I looked through my patterns and found this one. I've made this before and love the shift dress shape with the added detail of the bodice seam lines. It's a vintage pattern, which also seemed appropriate for the fabric. My copy is the original 1960s pattern, but it's been rereleased as Simplicity 3833.

The seam lines on the empire line bodice are definitely the highlight of the dress, but also require patience to do. Connecting the bodice to the skirt can't be done all in one go - it requires at least three steps. I sewed each side seam and bust dart, then sewed the curved front from seam line to seam line. It was a bit difficult to sew without it catching, and easier to start from the side and then sew to the centre, so that seam was also sewn in two stages.

The rest of the dress was very straightforward to put together, but I did get to use my new overlocker to finish off the seams. A few weeks ago Aldi had craft and sewing supplies as their special buys, including a Janome overlocker for $199. I've been daunted by overlockers, but it was actualy very easy to use. It did help that the machine was already threaded with small spools so I haven't had to work that out yet, but the actual sewing went pretty well.

The hem and facings are all finished by hand. Because the fabric is mottled rather than a flat colour, trying to match thread was going to be tricky. But by finishing by hand I didn't have to worry about that and was able to give the dress a clean finish.

I really like the shape of this dress. The empire line bodice is closely fitted, but the rest of the dress skims out from there making it very easy to wear.  There's also a long sleeved version which I would have made if there was enough fabric, so I guess that will have to be what I do next time.

The Tigermilk Dress

It's been a while since I last posted a new make. This was made mostly at the beginning of March, just before I went on holiday. I had thought I'd take it with my on my tip, but the ten buttons and buttonholes took a bit longer to finish than I'd expected.

The bodice fabric of this dress has had a few attempts before finally becoming this dress. I got the fabric from a fabric swap with the Sydney Spoolettes last year. It had already been cut into pieces for a straightforward pullover blouse, but never sewn up. It wasn't my style, but I loved the print. The pieces were for a large enough that I figured I could play around with them, and given it was a fabric swap they were free.

The pattern for the bodice is actually a blouse. The pattern is Simplicity 8009 from 1977. It had two options, sleeveless or puffy sleeves. Initially I decided to go for the sleeves.
The puffy sleeves were...not good. Although the fabric is soft, it didn't drape in the way I'd hoped, instead sticking out from my arms. So I removed the sleeves and used the fabric for sleeve facings instead. The length also didn't look quite right as a blouse, but the fabric is so nice and I liked how I'd sewn it together, so I decided to turn it into a dress.

The skirt fabric is from My Hung in Hurstville. I wasn't sure what colour would be the best choice, so I took a scrap with me and wandered around the store to see which one it matched with best. I was considering trying to match one of the colours in the bodice fabric, but in hte end decided to stick to something neutral. As it's just a simple A-line skirt I didn't bother with a pattern. I just measured the hem of the blouse and the length from my waist and cut out the fabric.

The dress title comes from Belle and Sebastian's first album, which I was listening to when I finished making it. And the retro feel of this dress suits their music. And tonight, it's getting an outing to see its namesakes perform.