Cotton/Rayon Everyday Dress

I loved the look of the recently released Everyday Dress from The New Craft House as soon as they posted a sneak peek of it on their Instagram. So I was over the moon when it appeared in my inbox as Hannah and Rosie kindly sent it over as a gift for being part of their ambassador programme. I've taken a while to get on board with the puff sleeve trend but it is definitely starting to grow on me. And yes I liked it enough to make it even with all that gathering to do! The fabric actually made the gathering really quick and straightforward. It is lightweight so gathered up easily and it has quite a crisp hand so stayed put where I wanted it rather than slipping about.

The fabric in question is a beautiful viscose/cotton blend from The Fabric Store with quite an abstract print of iris flowers. I don't often plump for floral prints but I liked that this one is quite graphic and contemporary feeling. I must admit I was also drawn to it as irises were my mum's favourite. There are a few more colour combinations of this print (as well as lots of other gorgeous rayon and viscose prints on their website at the moment) but as we are soon to be heading into winter here in the UK I opted for the darker base colour as I think it has potential for layering up with tights and boots in the cooler weather.

The crispness of a lightweight cotton is a great choice for adding volume and structure to a dress of this style while the added rayon content gives the dress  a lovely swish and movement. The skirt portion of my dress actually has slightly less width than the pattern intends as I ordered the fabric on a whim before the pattern was released and only had 3m (at 122cm wide) when the pattern calls for 4.1m of 150cm wide...I somehow managed to squeeze the dress out of what I had by cutting the skirt panels to my own dimensions. As far as I can remember I cut the upper tier as instructed and made the lower tier out of roughly 3 panels rather than 4 but using the full width of my fabric and random offcuts rather than the given dimensions. I also cut the tiers slightly shorter which I can get away with, being 5ft 3. Luckily the print disguises any weird seam placement and as you can see the skirt still has plenty of volume! 

While we're on the subject I did really like that there are pattern pieces for the skirt panels but if you'd prefer to save the paper measurements are given for them in a chart in the instructions so you can just draw them out. Very helpful when you're going a little rogue! The way the PDF is done also saves paper by using very narrow borders. I liked that touch.

Another change I made was to add self-fabric ties to the side seams just above the waist seam so I can cinch the bodice in at the back a little. I'm a big fan of a voluminous dress but when I finished this I felt perhaps a little too overwhelmed by fabric and that a little more shape wouldn't hurt. As I mentioned, I'm fairly petite so think the amount of ease just didn't work for my proportions. If I made it again I'd probably go down a size but the ties are doing the job very nicely on this version. I came up between the 8 and 10 on the size chart and after looking at the finished measurements did go for the smaller size but I could have gone one down again. Just personal preference though.

The only other tweak I made was to switch out the button and loop fastening at the nape of the neck with a simple hook and eye. I struggle to fasten a button at this spot plus didn't have a button I thought really worked with the dress. I really like that the neck is finished with a bias tape facing. I don't like how a regular facing can sometimes flap about and the binding gives such a lovely clean finish, particularly where it meets the centre back at the keyhole neckline.

It was my first time sewing with a New Craft House pattern and it all came together smoothly. I will be honest and say that there were a couple of small errors in the instructions and a missing notch but nothing that would confuse even a beginner. I think it would be a great pattern for an advancing beginner who wanted to try out some new skills like binding and gathering, especially as there is not much fitting involved. Plus it is a fun one to sew and wear too!

My favourite thing about this dress (aside from the fact that is has lovely roomy pockets!) has to be that those puff sleeves don't have elastic in the cuffs! I've never liked the slightly constraining feeling of elastic stretched around my body wherever it is on a garment. In this case the 'puff' is simply created by gathering the width of the sleeve into a fairly slim band. This doesn't fit snuggly to my arm so is really comfortable to wear. But I would recommend that you do use a fabric with a crisp hand to give that sleeve some volume or it may hang a little limp without the elastic to push it up the arm.

Thinking about the cuff, actually no part of this dress hugs the body so it is just supremely comfortable to wear and particularly lovely to waft around in during a heatwave. This is of course helped by my choice of fabric, the viscose cotton blend makes for a very breathable and airy combination. It is so nice to find a garment that you can feel stylish in and yet completely unaware that you are wearing it too. 

While I'm on the subject of The New Craft House, I'm teaching another Fabric Masterclass there on the evening of Thursday 27th October. If you fancy learning about fabric fibres and weaves and how to make the right choices for your sewing projects then do follow the link to grab a ticket and come along! As well as the talk from me, there's time to ask me questions, bubbles, snacks, socialising with other sewists and I'm on hand to help you with a bit of fabric shopping too. Hope to see you there!