I've been wanting a few nice summer dresses ever since the warm weather hit us but hadn't really got around to it what with moving and everything. When I started to set up my studio I discovered that I had a few pieces of undedicated fabric that were large enough for simple sundresses. This one is a batik I bought a few years ago at the quilt shop. It's so clean and simple but with a little bit of whimsy from the batik process - perfect for a summer dress.

I used this pattern (same as for my t-shirt) and cut a larger size through the waist and hips so for once I've got a dress that fits perfectly everywhere. I will definitely be using this technique again; it's so easy. I used the short sleeves from the t-shirt and finished the neck edge (and sleeve hems) with elastic instead of using the round yolk.

The dress went together really quickly and without much fuss. Instead of doing French seams I just pinked the seam allowances and pressed them open. The batik didn't fray much at all when I washed it and my pinking shears are new and needed testing. Open seams also meant that I didn't need to figure out something different for the back seam with the zipper in it. I ended up doing the zipper by hand; my machine refused to sew through the thicker material (I think it needs a fresh needle but I haven't got any right now) so I just used the machine to baste and then sewed the zipper on myself. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and ended up looking really nice.

I wore my dress to Rob's company barbecue yesterday. It was really comfortable. The cotton was cool enough in the sun (even though it's mostly black) and the little sleeves kept my arms warm when it started to cool off in the evening. I also discovered that with this dress it's a lot easier to put together a proper outfit. All I need to add is a pair of black shoes and ta-da! - an outfit. Each pair of shoes gives it a slightly different look too. I think I'll try it out with my black and white sandals on Monday.

(Yeah - I know, I'm wearing brown sandals in the picture but none of my black shoes are very good for walking in sand.)

This is the gown (and under-things though you can’t see them) than I made for myself for this year’s tea party. I’ll put up a post for the under-things as soon as I’m finished the embroidery on my stays; right now they look a little too ‘half finished’ to be shownoff.
 
The fabric for my gown was ordered from Moda Fabrics and is a light weight seersucker with thin yarn dyed stripes. The seersucker turned out to be a good choice as it hides a lot of little puckers that showed up while I was sewing. Being so light weight meant that it flowed beautifully when I was outside and was very comfortable to wear.

Since I wanted my gown to fit over Regency under-things (chemise, stays and petticoat) I had to get those finished first and put them all on for each fitting. They are not the most comfortable things to be machine sewing in (especially since I have to crawl under the table to plug in my iron) but the result was a bodice that fitted really well .
 
I wanted something I could do up myself so I modified the pattern to make a cross over bodice front and removed the button overlap in the back. I added the voile ruffle to hide any little bits of my under-things that peeked out beyond my neckline and because I think it looks nice and delicate.
 
I also added small gussets to the underarms for some added comfort and mobility.  They were pretty easy to set in but flat felling the seams was a bit daunting and I’m not sure they are done quite right; there are no raw edges showing on my dress however, except for the inner edge of the skirt placket which is just too skinny to do anything about.

 

My gown closes with two covered buttons and hand sewn button holes in the front.  I have to say I was very pleased with myself for getting the placket in exactly the right place in the front skirt piece and working out the pleats to accommodate the extra fabric I had added in for ‘designer’s comfort’.
 
The picnic was also the debut event for my Mesh Triangle shawl and I think it performed very well.  Katy got some lovely pictures of it catching the wind and the sun really brings out the colours.

 

 

 
There were special sleeve designs and carefully hand finished seams and button holes and pretty little mother of pearl buttons. Unfortunately we could not find any frog closures in town with which to finish the pelisse (sleeveless coat) so that has yet to be completed.