Last month, was the first ever Los Angeles Frocktails and today, I'm sharing the dress that I made to wear to the event. It was a really fun party and I loved being able to meet other local sewing enthusiasts. I have been dreaming about summer weather and really want to add some sundresses to my wardrobe this year so making something for Frocktails was the perfect motivator.
I was originally going to make a different dress from red polka dot fabric (I still hope to make it very soon) but as I got closer to the event without a new dress, I decided to make a dress using a pattern that I had sewn before. So, I used the Jessica dress pattern Mimi G/Sew Sew Def magazine. (See my first version here.) Along the way though I ended up making a few design modifications. It was not as fast to whip up as I had hoped and I didn't finish until the day of the party, with just an hour to spare.Phew!
Let's start by talking about the fabric. A few months ago, LA Finch fabrics had an end-of-bolt sale. It was a particularly stressful time for me and I decided that some fun fabric would be just the thing to cheer me up. So, I bought this yellow floral rayon (and the aforementioned red polka dot). It was labeled as a 2 yard cut but I had (I think) almost 2.5 yards, so it was enough to make a fairly long dress. When cutting out the dress, I wanted to maximize my fabric usage (see my tips for this here) so I started by cutting out the bodice and then cut out the skirt and facings, making the skirt pieces as long as possible.
By the way, I had the pleasure of meeting Josie, the owner of LA Finch fabrics at the Frocktails event. She was really lovely and I hope to one day make it down to her brick and mortar store in Long Beach. I also bought some swim fabric and denim fabric from them. The stock tends to vary but they have a lot of variety.
This fabric is a soft rayon with a lot of drape and didn't require any special handling. I did wash it in the washing machine on a gentler cycle and then dried it in the dryer for 15-20 minutes.
Before I cut out this dress, I tried on the one I made before and I was a little worried about it being tight across the bust. (I've gained a little weight since I made the dress in 2016.) So, when I cut the bodice pieces out, I added about 1/4" to the seam allowance over the bust. I tapered the addition so that nothing was added at the top of the bodice where it connects to the facing, likewise for the waist. Essentially, I did a cheater FBA, adding a little extra fabric to the princess seam that goes over the bust.
Following my notes from the last time I made the dress, I added 1.5" to the bodice length and at least 4" to the skirt. I may have added even more length to the skirt because I wanted to use as much fabric as possible. Don't forget, if you're adding length to the skirt, you also need to add it to the button band.
Last year, I did a series of tutorials on adding length to patterns and I'm planning to do more tutorials on digital adjustments and shoulder slope. You can see all of my fitting tutorials in my YouTube playlist.
On a related note, the instructions have you hem the skirt before attaching it to the button band, which creates a nice finish but as a tall person, I really like to leave hemming until the very end so that I have more control over the length. Because of this construction change, I should have added more length to the skirt button band. Mine, ended up being too short (which tbh might have also been a cutting error on my part). Fortunately, I switched my button band into a facing, so it's not visible.
The big design change that I made to the dress was to make wide tie straps. To make the tie straps, I cut 8 rectangles 21.5". The 8 pieces when stitched together makes 4 ties. I stitched two pieces together around two long sides and one short side (with right sides together). Then turned the tie right side out through the open short end and pressed.
During the sewing process, I started to worry that the yellow would be too pale with my skin tone and wash me out. So, I decided that I needed to add a pop of color and my favorite way to do that is with piping. I was able to find a package of vintage double fold bias tape in my stash that was just the right red color to match the red in the fabric. The package said that it wouldn't bleed but just to be sure, I gave it a quick wash in the sink. Fortunately, it did not bleed any dye.
I also had some 1/8" macrame cord (did anyone else pick up macrame over the pandemic?) and it was the perfect size to make my own piping. I pressed the folds out of the bias tape and wrapped it around the cording and basted it in place. I consulted this tutorial from Seamwork for help.
The one package of piping was enough to add an edging around the top of the bodice and down the front of the dress but nothing else. If I'd had more piping, I would have also added it to the waist seam or the pockets. I have a video tutorial for how to sew on piping that you can read and watch here.
Adding the piping to the front meant that I needed to sew things a little differently so I really didn't refer to the instructions very much during the construction. I do wish that I had looked at my notes from the last time I made this pattern, and stay stitched the top of the bodice. It's not in the instructions and I wish I had stay stitched both times I made this dress.
The original pattern has you make the button band in the skirt from a folded piece of fabric. Because I needed a seam at the center front edge of the skirt to insert my piping into, I made the button band using a facing (the same way that it's done for the bodice.
To construct the dress, stitched the bodice and skirt pieces and sewed them together. Next, I basted the piping around the top edge of the bodice and down the center front right side. I basted on the four shoulder ties, centered over the princess seams. Then, I basted on the facing, just to make sure it was in the right place. And finally stitched and understitched the facing.
Lastly, I sewed the buttonholes and buttons on by machine (see my tutorial for a one-step buttonhole here) and a few weeks after the party, I sewed on the patch pockets.
UPDATE: I put together a video of the process of sewing this dress. You can watch above or on YouTube.
I really love the dress and I think it's just a perfect summer sun dress. The fabric is just as cheerful as I wanted it to be and I love the pop of red piping. Here I’m wearing the dress with a strapless bra but because I made the straps wider, I might be able to get away with wearing a bra with straps as well. Now of course, I have ideas for at least three more summer dresses to sew and all I need is to find the time to sew them. :)
