Red Bow Dress

May is the month when I get the most sewing done for me. Not panic sewing - promise! But I am more motivated to get new stuff to wear by moving through my queue. Although I made, and wore it, during Me Made May it's taken a while to get it up here on the blog.

I got the fabric on a recent trip to Australia. I have to pause to give a big shout out to Spotlight stores. I always make a trip there whenever I can. They look a bit rubbish: their branding is seriously out of date, their TV ads are terrible, the stores are a jumbled mess, and they pile cheap home furnishings right at the front. But… if you go inside and actually look around, they have a huge range of fabrics, including worthwhile apparel fabrics, a large selection of quilting cottons, from major fabric companies and lots and lots of fabrics for everything from costumes to evening wear. The downside is that you have to rummage, and you have to be very careful about pricing, the rolls are not clearly marked. I advise double checking the price with the staff before they cut. Ask me how I know...

I was drawn to the colour of this cotton drill / twill. I didn’t realise it was also a stretch.  They very kindly sold it to me at the standard price, because someone had put the roll back in the wrong place. I only bought one meter, thinking to make an a-line skirt with it. This but in a plain. When I got home, I had another think: it would make a fantastic dress. I wanted to get this pattern from it, but it takes 1.5m, and I only had 1m. 

The fabric constraints meant I needed something sleeveless, so I went back through my pattern stash and discovered Simplicity K1609, included with an issue of Sew Magazine. I decided to make View B, the bow front. It is pictured in blue on the pattern cover.

I remembered that Gertie had made about 5 or 6 versions of this dress, but I stupidly only read her comments after I had cut mine out. Unusually, it comes up a bit on the small side and there are no lengthen or shorten lines on the pattern so I forgot to adjust for my short waist. It needs 1 – 2 cm shortening, and then it would be a great fit. The slight stretch in the fabric saved me in the end, but it is more rumpled than it would be with a better fit. I did remember to do a 1.5cm sway back adjustment, and I shortened the back darts by 3cm. I made the armhole seams with a 1cm seam allowance plus same for the side seams below the bust. 

I cut the front on the fold, omitting the centre front seam. I didn’t need the waist shaping and  I didn’t want such an obvious seam line distracting the eye from the lines of the dress. The pattern photography takes great care not to show this seam on any of the four versions, you have to inspect the line drawing on the back, or the illustration from the original 1960s pattern envelope to know it is there. I'm sure it is fine in a busy print but not great in a plain. I lengthened the hem to the remainder of the fabric and got about 1 - 2 inches extra on the length. Which is perfectly short enough, thank you very much.

I didn’t have enough fabric for the facings, and considered cutting them from contrast fabric. But I know my fitting issues well enough to know that a sleeveless dress would have the facings on show, particularly when I am sitting down. I had some plain red quilting cotton in my stash, so I cut the facings from that. The colour is a good match, and I'm pleased with the extra stability that a woven gives. I still interfaced them though.  Ironically, the skinny quarter or so of facing fabric cost me almost as much, in the UK, as the entire dress fabric did, in Australia.

I went to town on the seam finishes and bound them with contrast bias binding. I love the pop of colour inside, and it makes me want to wear it inside out! The fabric frayed a lot, so the binding is a good option for a nice finish, but it does add bulk to the seams, and I over stretched it a bit, which makes the seam pucker. It’s a shame, I don’t think I would bind again, unless it was with a very light, sheer fabric – which, quite frankly, sounds like a bit of a nightmare. I didn’t do a hem binding, I think it is less bulky this way.

I changed the lapped zip for an invisible zip which I knew would look less home made than any lapped zip I would be able to manage. John Lewis were out of the 55cm size, and I was impatient to finish, so I bought a 45cm zip. It needs a tiny bit of wiggling to get on and off but, again: stretch fabric! My back seam fitting gave me a 1cm seam allowance through the waist and hips, and more than 1.5cm through the bust, increasing to a lot at the back neck. It is taken in by about the same amount again as the back neck darts. I must sit up straighter…

I went for the bow option on the front, Version B. I think the solid fabric needs something to distract the eye from the creasing, and I like the 60s vibe of the bow. I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the bow in one length, but I managed to do it in two halves. This adds a very bulky seam under the knot, which stops it from pulling into tight folds, but I like it this way. I mistakenly cut it longer than the pattern, by about 10cm, but I’ve left it in the longer length with the tails hanging lower. I hope it will come out of the wash intact, it is only bound and secured by hand stitching, only along the knot so I am a bit concerned about how long this bow might last.

I styled up with coloured tights and platforms for the photo! But, as this dress is not lined, it is not for wearing with tights. Nor giraffe-sized platform shoes!

Costs:
Pattern, Sew Magazine: £5.99
Fabric, Spotlight: £4.00
Fabric facings, 25cm, John Lewis: £2.50
Interfacing, 25cm, John Lewis: £1.13 
Bias Binding, 4.2m, eBay: £4.16
Invisible Zip, John Lewis: £3.20
Thread, used previously: £0.00
Total: £20.98