The thoughts, sewing projects, and fabric oglings of a dedicated sewist.

A Quartet of Easy Summer Dresses

7/20/14
I am having a generally lovely summer and  I hope all of you are, too. I haven't had much time to blog, but I'm on Instagram now (code name PoldaPop), and if you want to see what I'm up to, I post regularly there. I'm on a kick to post a photo a day under the hashtags #sewdailyphoto and #whatIsewedtoday.

A couple months back I posted about a dress that my best friend and I have been passing back and forth for at least a decade. I think I actually bought the dress new around 1996 or 1997. This past winter, I finally made a pattern of it and it's been my dress of choice for the summer. In addition to the purple one, I now have two more!

This one is a chevron rayon challis I bought with a coupon from Hancock Fabrics.


See how well it goes with my new bag and new shoes?


The second one is a Joel Dewberry print that I just love:

Same shoes and bag!


I did a bit of tweaking to the pattern to make the waist a tiny bit more fitted (took it in about 1.5" in the waist). This dress doesn't have any closures so the test is whether or not you can get the dress on past your bust. Since my bust consists primarily of foam padding, it works.

This is a perfect summer dress: it's light and airy, I can run after the kids and ride my bike in it, and I can dress is up with nice shoes or kick around with flip flops. I can make it up in 2.5 hours from cutting to finishing, so it's an easy make. And I can squeeze it out of 2 yards of fabric if I cut the back bodice piece with a center back seam (and cut the halves out separately). Win.

The third member of the quartet is one that I made for a client. This is a rayon challis from Anna Maria Horner. BTW, I am so happy that some of the big names in quilting cotton design  now have their prints in some apparel fabric like rayon challis and voile, too.



And the fourth member of the quartet was actually made by my best friend when I was back visiting her in June. I brought the pattern with me and gifted her some fabric so that she could learn to make it herself. I show that off when I get the picture from her, (HINT HINT, Malinda). Here's the fabric so that you've got something to ogle:

RAJD001 · Dahlia · Maize
Joel Dewberry Bungalow Dahlia in Honeysuckle

I may be done with this dress pattern for a while or I might try to make a version from jersey, maybe sleeveless. I can probably use my TNT Sew U Home Stretch bodice. Hmmmm, I'm off to dig through my jersey stash!
8 comments on "A Quartet of Easy Summer Dresses"
  1. Very nice! I really love the AMH one - probably because it has more yellow!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great dress! I love that Joel Dewberry print, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Liza Jane - I think brunettes are drawn to teal!

      Delete
  3. It is a great dress and looks so easy to wear. Maybe you should use your amazing talents and make an Indie pattern.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marjorie - Thank you, that is such an encouraging comment. I'd love to figure out how to do that!

      Delete
  4. Just getting around to commenting, cute dresses. Those shoes have turned out to be a great investment :) In my book, shoes are always a great investment ;)

    ReplyDelete