Honeymoon Maxi Dress

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics and info!)

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

  GOODBYE SUMMER

Before this blog fills up with autumn makes and lush wool fabrics, I need to share this last summer make with you! I made this dress for our honeymoon in Sardegna, Italy.

Although this dress is far from perfect and not exactly how I envisioned it, I’m really pleased with it and loved wearing it on holiday. Since we’ve been back from our trip, it has been hanging in the closet, though, waiting for summer to return next year.

I drafted the pattern myself by copying a RTW mini summer dress I liked the fit of. Copying the pattern was quite easy and the cut was rather boxy and simple. I had this really beautiful and delicate bird print chiffon in my stash. I knew it would be quite see-through even with the lining, so I decided to use a lot more fabric for the skirt, cutting a wider skirt and thus, adding more gathers. This helped with the transparency, but I have to admit that it’s not the most flattering silhouette – and it’s a lot warmer, as well.

Apart from this, I really love it, although the sewing process didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped. By copying the pattern, I somehow lost about 5cm of shoulder strap length – I have no idea how that happened. And I didn’t notice until I tried the fully-constructed bodice on – lining understitched an all. The fit was horrible and it took me a while to get behind the reason for this. The bodice was sitting way too high, too tight around the bust and the armholes were also too small! There was no way I would’ve deconstructed the whole thing again and I would’ve lost a lot of skirt length by cutting out a new bodice. I was forced to get creative, which is how this awesome criss-cross shoulder strap detail happened. I basically cut the bodice at the shoulder seams and inserted the missing 5 cm of length by adding four tiny straps to each side.

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

The dress is lined with some ivory tricot fabric. The skirt a very simple shape, no gathers or even darts. It hits mid-thigh, with is a lot shorter than I usually wear, but the long layer of chiffon keeps it quite decent-looking.

The chiffon skirt is basically just two large rectangular pieces sewed together at the side seams and gathered into the waist. I used my rolled-hem foot to hem the skirt. Initially, I wanted to make a floor-length maxi skirt, but I didn’t have quite enough fabric so now it’s a midi rather than a maxi length.

You see, there have been a lot of changes and some frustration in the process of making this dress. In the end I somehow managed to turn it into something wearable I really like.

So all’s well that ends well.

I wore the dress on a little trip through town, shopping at the local market. They even had some really lovely haberdashery on display!

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

Chiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.comChiffon Maxi Dress by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

These rather bumpy projects can be the most valuable! Mistakes don’t have to become failures. They can push us to be more creative.

Do you have any sewing fails that you managed to turn into something beautiful?

xx

Charlie


Happy sewing!

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Chiffon maxi skirt & matching top

chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com BELLA SARDEGNA

Ciao! We’ve just come back from our amazing honeymoon trip to Italy/Sardinia. (Sorry, for the photo spam, but the Mr took so many pretty pictures, I just had to share!) Just before the trip I managed to squeeze in some selfish sewing time and make something for my travel wardrobe. The dress I’m sharing today I made for my birthday, which was mostly spent strolling through town eating ice cream and reading at the beach – which is pretty much my definition of a perfect day.

It’s actually a maxi skirt and separate top combi and therefore was a great addition to my capsule vacation wardrobe. The fabric is a navy chiffon with a mint & pink bird print that I got ages ago at Walthamstow Market, London, in one of the dodgy shops at the far end of the market (a couple of houses from Saeed’s). It was only ‎£1/m and I snatched up about 3 metres (140m wide). chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

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chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

The pattern is more or less self-drafted. That’s because I didn’t make a proper pattern for the skirt. It’s a maxi half circle skirt and I drew the pattern right onto the fabric, no paper pattern needed. I had 3 metres of this fabric, which was just enough for a half-lined top and a half circle skirt. I would’ve needed almost twice as much for a full circle skirt, but the half circle looks great, too, and was much more practical to wear on a windy island. The skirt has a knee-length lining I made using some poly satin scraps.

I attached a straight waistband to the skirt and added a mint coloured invisible zip. It matches the print perfectly, but for some reason we forget to snap a pic showing the zip. The side seams are overlocked and I used a rolled hem foot to machine-roll the hem. As I wasn’t dealing with expensive silks and also had a pretty tight schedule I skipped the whole hand-rolled hem business this time. It’s ok to cheat sometimes, right? And to be fair, it looks so pretty and even, I probably wouldn’t have achieved similar results by handsewing.

The top is from the Sew Over It Vintage book and it’s the first garment I made using the book. I drafted the bodice block as described in the book (same as the Anita Tie Top) and shortened it into a crop top. I used two layers of fabric for the bodice front, so that the back is pretty much see-through, but the front not so much. As I spent most of my time at work and not the beach, some decency doesn’t hurt, right?

The shoulder and side seams of the top are finished with french seams and the armholes are bias-bound. I overlocked and machine sewed the hem. The top was really super quick and easy to draft, cut and sew, just one of these happy projects I need every once in a while to keep my sewing mojo going.
chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

chiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.comchiffon dress and top by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

I really love the skirt/top combination and wore it loads on holiday. The skirt looks also great with plain white or grey t-shirt and the crop top looks super cute paired with some high-waisted jeans.

Have you made something for your vacation wardrobe? Do you like sewing garments for a capsule wardrobe or do you love stand-out pieces when you go on holiday? I’d love to know!

Charlie


Happy sewing!

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