Sorbetto Dress

Have you ever noticed a gaping hole in your wardrobe just as you are about to visit a fabric store? It happens to me all the time ;) There I was, in the Isle of Wight, about to go to a store I discovered last year, when I remembered that I was about to go on yet another holiday and I didn't have a dress that I could wear in the heat.

When I lived in Australia, I had many such clothes. Here in Britain, they are not really needed. I did make a sundress last year but the style is a beach dress so I don't wear it out and about. What I needed was a light, breezy dress. I swooped on this fabric with delight: light and soft, my colours and a great price. Why oh why did I not get 2 meters of it?

I knew the Collette Sorbetto would turn into just the sort of dress I was looking for. I turned the centre pleat into an inverted pleat at the top and left it loose to provide additional ease through the waist and hips. I extended the bottom, adding as much width as I could from the width of the fabric. This one was 150cm wide, so I was able to gain quite enough.

For me, this pattern definitely needs darts at the back. I added them in at the end. They provide some shaping but I'm still not happy with the back. (But maybe I'm just not happy with the size of my bum and the pictures are showing me the ugly truth.) After I made up the side seams and shoulder seams, I realised that I really would have to line the dress. What a torment! The light and breezy fabric would not be light and breezy with a polyester or quilting cotton lining. Those were the only things I had - I was leaving the next day! Then I remembered my trusty sheet which is light and thin. Then I remembered my first Sorbetto, made out of the very same sheet. It wasn't that great, I had used a basting stitch to sew the front darts, there was a mistake in the front binding and I had managed to include a small stain in the front, despite careful inspection of said sheet.

Sorbetto Dress Lining

I unpicked the hem and the front pleat but I left all the binding intact. I didn't have time to pull it all out and get the dress finished in time to actually wear it this year. I wrapped the whole thing inside the dress and did a bias facing on the inside, instead of the exposed facing called for in the pattern. The binding seams are a bit thick and heavy but I wasn't about to unpick all that binding.

I had just enough dress fabric left to add a skirt lining to the bottom. I decided against a pocket, I thought putting anything in it would pull the dress too much, plus I didn't want to interfere with the French seams.

As you can see, I got it made in time and had a lovely holiday too!

Cost:

Fabric: £6.25