Dressmaking

Be still my beating heart … the Style Arc Palmer woven dress might be my favourite shirtdress ever. And gingham linen? I don’t know anyone who would say no to that! 

I’ve had my eyes on the Style Arc Palmer woven dress pattern for some while. Precisely since I saw this RTW one from French brand Sézane in their summer range. The RTW fabric is a blend of 65% linen, 34% organic cotton, 1% polyamide (no idea what value was being added by the 1% synthetic fibre). Now linen and linen blends are readily available and so are dress patterns like this so I wasn’t about to buy the RTW dress!

The curved hem and the wide sleeves with the cuffs are just lovely. I think this would be a great shirt too! (extra benefit of using a sewing pattern). But that will have to wait till next year when the warm weather rolls around again. Let’s take a closer look.

Style Arc Palmer woven dress line drawing 

Sizing 

I made a straight size 8. It is roomy up the top, I could potentially have sized down to a 6. However. If I do up the collar it does sit nicely on my shoulders … only noticing now that it’s meant to be a dropped shoulder! By the way I have wider shoulders relative to my narrow torso, so many things end up looking a little oversized.

The hip is more fitted than I would expect. Having said that the skirt is fairly straight, something in me just thinks a dress like this could have a skirt that is a little more A-line? In any case, the side split and front split are friendly for bike riding and they aren’t big enough to be flapping down to the wheel and getting stuck.

Observations

• Buttons – I like the suggested button placement! And the narrow placket too (2cm wide) which is narrower than plackets I typically see on shirts / shirtdresses.
• Probably would not wear this dress without a belt. The fabric hangs too “heavily” since the fronts/ back are cut in all one piece (i.e. no waist seam), giving me a coathanger effect. Can you relate?
• The collar could be a little looser when done up compared to my other shirts. Having said that I rarely (or never) do up my top 2 buttons on a button-down shirt so this isn’t an issue.
• The small yoke at the top of the shoulder seems unnecessary … maybe it was meant to be a design feature but it’s so small that you can’t really see it unless you’re taller than me and looking down at my shoulder. If I make another version I’d eliminate this piece and just have a front and back. 

Modifications 

• The self belt is really wide so I understand why there are no belt loops. But I like a leather belt to break up the gingham a bit (instead of a self-fabric belt) so I might add the loops anyway so I don’t have to have my belt so tight all the time. 
• Pockets felt a bit low and near my thighs when I pinned on the paper to check. I ended up moving them up 5cm; in hindsight, 3cm would have been enough. FYI I have a short bodice so this is not a surprise.
• Shortened the maxi version by 3cm. I think this is now called “midaxi” length!? For reference, I am 164cm.
• Curved hems: I can’t cope with double-fold curved hems because I can never get a neat finish at the point where it meets the side seam. Instead I prefer to overlock the side seam/curve/bottom hem in one pass then fold in once and stitch down. Style Arc has this listed as an alternate method in the instructions so I guess it can’t be that bad a method.

Fabric 

I have a complicated relationship with linen. Being loosely woven, it is challenging to cut and sew accurately without warping and that drives me crazy. Gingham is good in a way because I know exactly where to go … but imperfection shows if I don’t press precisely on a checked line or I’ve stretched out the fabric and need to ease it back in so the checks match properly. 

But linen has a great combination of body, drape and texture and is really nice to wear. So I can’t really be mad at it and say I’m never going to sew it! Here’s another of my linen makes that has stood the test of the 2yrs it’s been in my wardrobe (and hopefully I’ll still love the style in coming years).

This linen is from Ray Stitch in London. It is from their house range, 100% linen, 170gsm / 5oz. Great name for the colour way too and I love the name “Peaches and Cream”. When I saw it I knew it would be the right one for this pattern. Call this the luxury of being able to see the fabric in person! 

Finally, if you’re keen to see the fabric in motion and missed it before, here’s the reel I posted on my Instagram page:

Till next time

Kate x

The Daughter Judy Teague dress in this delightful strawberry cotton jersey fabric is a match I made immediately in my mind’s eye when I saw the pattern online.

Disclaimer: sponsored fabric in exchange for a social media post (this blog is because I want to tell you about the dress!). Jinny and Joe is a German based fabric store with fun prints they design themselves – and I’m a total sucker for food and fruit-printed fabric. I’ve done a few collabs with them in the last year – see some of my Instagram reels here and here – but having said that I also buy fabric from them for the kids. Their popular designs sell out quickly, so if you’re interested, subscribe to their newsletter so you know when the fabric drops are coming.

Back to the dress, I find it quite a challenge to find jersey fabrics and patterns that are to my taste: not too fitted (not my style), not too sack-like, or only for the weekend or beach only. Jumpers and cardigans I prefer the ones that look like they’re actually knitted rather than eg a French terry or drapey jersey cardigan. So you could legitimately ask: what do you like then? Well, normally just t-shirts or turtlenecks. But my answer today has to be: cotton jersey that’s fairly bouncy and the Daughter Judy Teague dress pattern! (which I bought myself by the way).

Daughter Judy Teague Dress – line drawing 

The top is connected to the skirt at the centre front and centre back, with gaps for the side cutouts. There is a skirt facing which also acts as the channel for elastic to hold everything in place. The top has the front and upper back cut in one continuous piece. That makes for interesting seam lines which would be super nice for eg stripes. In the diagram below I marked in purple so you can see where you stick the small piece to the main body…

Modifications 

Examining the sample and line drawing, I already know the top wouldn’t fit – I shorten the bodice on every single dress and jumpsuit pattern with a fitted waistline. And boy I’m glad I made a toile of this Teague dress because I ended up taking 5cm! from the bodice length and still achieve the blouse over effect despite that.

To further complicate matters, I also wanted to have the bodice 7cm shorter just at the side seams. And narrow the side seams as well, and change the curve of the cutouts a little. All this meant that what would have otherwise been fairly straightforward sewing became really time-consuming. And I butchered the pattern to make it work (sorry Chelsea if you read this) via pinning a bit here and there very unscientifically and trying it on 50 times as I went. But I guess you can say that part of sewing clothes is making them fit! In the end it worked out ok despite the time effort.

Other things I did:

To keep the print looking as continuous as possible:

• Cut the skirt on the fold instead of a separate centre back seam 
• Attached the lower back panel piece to the upper back (i.e. in the diagram above with the purple line, I took the smaller piece and stuck it to the back instead). In doing so I eliminated the horizontal seam across mid back and ended up with a side seam instead.

But I failed to remember that cutting the front and back in one piece with no shoulder seam would result in upside-down strawberries! Never mind …!! I must say I do like the diagonal effect on the back which would look ace on e.g. a stripe.

Thankfully: the skirt fit perfectly. But I still had to toile the whole dress so I could see where would land relative to the top. 

Construction 

• Eliminated the neckband as I didn’t have ribbing (matching or contrast) that I liked, and tbh I thought the dress with this print looked slightly more “elevated” without it. So I just folded over the neckline and coverstitched. Good to put a strip of knit interfacing at the edge to stabilise the neckline but still retain stretch. 
• Pattern asks for 2.5cm wide elastic at the waist but could be 3cm if you prefer a wider elastic. Or if you want to use something even wider if you find it more comfy – just make the facing/tunnel wider. 

After 2 nights of experimental hard slog, I got a strawberry dress of dreams! A bit kitsch but feels quite cool at the same time and not excessively vintage-y. My husband’s reaction: did you forget to sew up the sides?! he doesn’t understand fashion. 

Took myself to work in the dress and remembered to bring my mini tripod so I took my pictures at lunch with people walking past me. But tbh that doesn’t bother me anymore at all and I’m delighted with how the pics make me feel like one of those cool fashion girls that I follow on IG. Maybe I need to do more urban backgrounds?!

Thanks to Jinny and Joe for the fab fabric and I’m very happy to recommend the Teague dress by Daughter Judy as a pattern! 

Till next time

Kate 

Silk bias skirts have been on my radar recently and I have plenty to say about the two I made: Fibre Mood Madeline (affiliate link) – with zip and facings – and the Pattern Line Mercer skirt with an elastic waist. So we have a new blog post! 

If you’re into scrolling fashion websites, silk bias skirts are one of those things that seem to be more in than out of fashion in general. The luxury version is made of silk, and if I can sew a silk bias skirt it is still cheaper than spending the $$$ to buy a ready-to-wear one! Actually, I rarely wear any fabric with drape as I feel it doesn’t suit my angular shape … but as with many fashion items, if you can style it effectively, you can make it work. 

Disclaimer: I work as a freelancer and Fibre Mood is one of my clients, so I did not buy the pattern myself. My Fibre Mood links are affiliate (all others are not).

Fibre Mood Madeline vs The Pattern Line Mercer 

Pattern pieces

Very conveniently, all the bias skirt patterns I’ve ever seen have just one pattern piece, the same one for the back and front. If I place the Madeline on top of the Mercer, you can see that it is remarkably similar – the elastic one (Mercer) is just wider on the side seams and has a flatter hemline. I guess you can conclude: there aren’t too many ways to draw the same skirt, and the elastic one needs to be wide enough to go over your hips. 

Fabric choice 

Anything with really good drape works – I’ve made versions of bias skirts in Tencel^TM and bamboo/polyester blends before as well. But the lustre and shine of silk in a satin weave really makes it the luxury choice for this kind of skirt. You can see this with the gold one… the black is a twill with more of a matte finish and a bit of a subtle stripe. However, seeing as the black silk was in my stash I wasn’t about to go and buy something shiny for the sake of it given the expense!

Quick note about fabric thickness … my gold silk was 205gsm and an excellent weight for this skirt. The black was a coupon from a physical shop so I don’t know, but it is definitely thinner and flimsier. Doesn’t mean you can’t make a bias skirt with a thin fabric, just means you probably (1) double it up and have a lining layer (expensive), or (2) wear a slip underneath. My choice is (2) – the easy option!

Finishings

French seams on the side, and a baby hem. I did a demo of how to do such a hem here.

Fit & stretching out

Stretching out only really matters in my mind for the Fibre Mood Madeline (zip version). I placed staytape on the waistline edges but still managed to stretch it out. Going down one size helped. For the elastic version (The Pattern Line Mercer), if your fabric stretches out, you can also stretch the elastic a bit when you attach it to the skirt, so it’s not really an issue.

Zip & facings construction

Fibre Mood Madeline has a zip and facings. I wouldn’t recommend installing an invisible zip on silk as your very first attempt at invisible zips. Not because zips are difficult, but simply because a drapey fabric is a bit shifty and delicate compared to e.g. cotton poplin and it’s really not nice to unpick.

Fibre Mood recommends stitching strips of bias cut “lining” pieces to the zip area in order to stabilise. I can’t comment on effectiveness because I skipped this one, instead I used fused stay tape on the edges. For stability purposes, it seemed to work well enough. 

But my fabric is a “stretch silk” with 2% elastane which seemed to make the shiftiness of the silk worse so I must admit I didn’t do a stellar job with accurate sewing. Forgive the flaws please! (by the way, I used self fabric bias tape to finish the bottom of the facing instead of overlocking).

Elastic waist construction

This gives you a super clean and tidy finish from the outside, and construction is really quick too if you’re using elastic. Eira from The Pattern Line has a full sewalong video where she gives lots of great tips on working with silk and constructing the skirt, down to the settings to use on the zigzag stitching sections. Be sure to watch the whole video; it’s really not that long and worth your time for the excellent sewing, I promise! I did not look at the instruction file at all beyond choosing a size since the sewalong covered it all. 

Zip vs elastic? 

Jury still out on this, so I think it’s down to what matters to you. Let me elaborate …

Zip/facings: easy to get it on due to zip, facings never flip out, and if the facings are well interfaced they also have the added benefit of the “holding you in”, similar feeling like when you wear eg high waist trousers. So there are less lumps and bumps showing around the middle in an unforgiving drapey fabric! But, there’s always a bit of a bump at the end of the zip at the side seam. Construction requires more care and obviously takes longer. Also on the zip side I used an overlock instead of french seams (I bound just the zip section and couldn’t be bothered with the rest) which isn’t as nice a finish.

Elastic: beautiful French seam finishes on both side seams, looks perfect from the outside. But still some difficulties for me.

1. Incorrect elastic length – had to shorten it by 4cm since it turned out more stretchy than I estimated, and unpicking a 3mm x 1mm zigzag on silk was obviously awful. 
2. I can’t seem to find the “right” elastic for this skirt. In the Netherlands they sell “boxer short” elastic (30mm wide) which is better than some other ones I tried before which creased/rolled. But the boxer short elastic does feel too hard relative and plasticky relative to the softness of the silk and so it does not sit perfectly against the skirt. 
3. Even if the elastic is tacked down at the sides, it still flips up when I put on the skirt and that feels annoying. Also, a narrower waistband (ie elastic) = more lumps and bumps showing. 

Conclusion – silk bias skirts are a winner whatever you choose!

So that was my 2 cents on the matter … I honestly didn’t think a bias skirt would be worth blogging about, but given the diff options and skirt adventure I had, I thought it might help if you’re thinking about making one. I’ll end here with some photos, I think I’m becoming obsessed with these skirts!

Till next time
Kate