Black Floral Viscose True Bias Shelby Dress

I'm so excited to share my latest make today! I love it so, so much. I have been wanting to make myself a new dress for quite a while but waited to find the perfect pattern and fabric. I'm not really a dress person so in order to wear it, I wanted to choose a fabric and style that I really loved. I've seen a lot of floral dresses and skirts on the high street at the moment which I wanted to recreate and I'm really enjoying sewing with viscose fabric.

Like I said, I wouldn't describe myself as a dress person. That's not to say that I don't like dresses, they just don't really fit the description for the kind of clothes that I wear every day, though I do wear skirts quite a bit in the summer. I have made dresses in the past, some successful and some not quite so much. I've probably worn my dungaree dresses the most, especially this black needlecord one (now given to my sister) as I find the style a bit easier to wear. This dress never really got worn as it's not really my style and although I love my Rosa Shirtdress and have worn it a bit, it could definitely be worn more often. More recently I made a simple rib t-shirt dress which I really like as it's a bit more casual and a chambray dress that I made to take on holiday last year which I also like but would class as more of a holiday dress than a going-about-my-day dress. So that's the rundown of my handmade dress situation - I probably could have made that into an entire blog post to be honest!

Anyway, in summary I've sometimes struggled to wear the dresses I've made as they feel a bit too out there for everyday clothes. However, as I've got older this has been another thing which has changed and I felt that this year was the year to finally make myself a perfect summer dress. And I think I have!

Other than wanting a ditsy floral print, I still hadn't settled on the style of dress that I wanted to make. I had seen the True Bias Shelby Dress when it first came out and liked it but didn't think much of it as a style that I would wear. It wasn't until I saw Liz's dress that she made on the first week of the Sewing Bee and then Fiona's version of the Shelby Dress that I realised it was the perfect pattern and that I absolutely had to make it! Both Liz and Fiona made the longer version but wearing a dress is already stepping out of my comfort zone a little, I don't think I'm ready to cope with a midi or maxi dress yet!

My re-discovery of the Shelby Dress pattern happened at exactly the right time as I wanted to make the dress in time for summer. Of course the inevitable happened and the paper pattern seemed to be out of stock everywhere just when I decided to make it. Luckily I managed to find a version at Sew Essential. I did briefly consider making the playsuit/romper version but I really wanted a dress. I do think it's really great to get those two options in one pattern though.

It then came down to finding the perfect fabric. Like I mentioned, I knew that I wanted a ditsy floral viscose print. I discussed my thoughts on floral fabric a bit in this post but basically I feel as though I can now wear a floral pattern without looking like a 10 year old! I love the look of ditsy floral prints and I think I'm correct in saying that they're very 90s, so it's the perfect print to pair with the Shelby pattern. As someone who wasn't alive in the 90s, I'm delighted to be able to wear the dresses now that they've come back in!

There is honestly an overwhelming amount of floral viscose fabrics available. I spent so long trying to decide which one to get but I love the one I chose. I knew that Minerva has a really great and affordable viscose fabric selection so focused on their fabrics. I wanted a white flower on a black background which you'd think would narrow down the choice considerably, but there were still lots to choose from! The one I bought is this one, but I also love this one, this one and this one. Honestly, I was very tempted (and still am !) to buy several of them to make some skirts and trousers too but managed to resist. I find that Minerva can be a slight gamble with fabric quality and I try never to order fabric with polyester in it online so I got a 100% viscose fabric and the quality is amazing! It's really the most gorgeous fabric, so soft and drapey and not at all see-through. I bought 3m to be on the safe side but measured how much I used once I'd pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric and found that I used exactly 2m. So I have 1m of it left and would love to make a skirt or some trousers (like these ones) out of it.

The dress is a pretty relaxed fit so I made a size 2 which was just perfect, it fits so well with no adjustments. I love that it comes in at the waist thanks to the ties so it's fitted while the skirt is loose and floaty, making it comfortable for warmer days. I'd really recommend using viscose as it drapes beautifully and gives some swooshiness to the skirt. I made view A which is the short dress version. I'm still slightly amazed at how well it fits me, I even used the suggested hem width and it's the perfect length which never happens!

The princess seams give the dress such an effortless feel, although I did have to do quite a bit of ironing when sewing them! The best part of the dress is probably the tie back which brings it in at the waist to give it shape. In tying them loosely at the back the dress is still loose and comfortable around the waist but avoids looking at all sack-like. 

I like the effect of the rouleau loops a lot, as well as bringing the dress in at the waist the bow adds a really pretty touch.

I was pretty lucky that my sewing of this dress co-incided with shops reopening after lockdown (non-essential shops reopended on 15th June for us). While I did have to wait a while before buying the buttons I was able to pop into my local craft shops to find the perfect ones which I was very happy about. I think buttons are always the final touch so I didn't want to order some online without matching them to the fabric.

I went into the shop knowing exactly what I wanted but also knowing that I had to buy whatever they had so that I could finish the dress! Luckily I was able to find the buttons that I had in mind. I chose to go for matte black buttons, it's a finish that I much prefer the look of at the moment and reminds me of FIMO buttons that I used to make when I was little.

I hadn't made the dress in time for the first heatwave around Easter so when I heard that there was going to be a heatwave this week I was determined to finish it in time! The dress had been waiting for its buttons for about a week so I bought those last weekend and then finished sewing the buttonholes and buttons on Tuesday evening. We had 30-degree weather on both Wednesday and Thursday this week and I wore my new dress on both those days! I loved wearing it too so it's safe to say that it's a complete success. By the way, I do appreciate that 30-degrees is nothing in a lot of countries but for us it's almost unheard of and has everyone moaning and drooping all day long! Except for me of course, because I had my new dress on...

Faberwood Organic Jersey Handmade Button Down Top

I might be unusual in this opinion but my favourite things to sew are always the simple, everyday makes. Sewing elaborate dresses and intricate blouses can be really fun, but for me nothing beats sewing a classic jersey top or jumper. That isn't to say that I don't enjoy more involved projects because I really do, it's just so nice to make something knowing that it will receive a lot of wear. 

This top is basically my ideal make! It's simple and easy to sew but still involves techniques that make it interesting both to make and to wear. If I had drawn a sketch of what I thought this top would look like before making it (this scenario assumes that I can draw and this thus hypothetical), it would have looked exactly like the finished version. What's not to love about a make that comes out exactly as planned?! 

It's often interesting to think about what comes first in sewing project planning, the fabric or the pattern. For me, it's nearly always the fabric, only occasionally do I choose the pattern first and then buy the fabric. When Fiona from Faberwood offered to send me some of her lovely fabric and mentioned this Flàme Organic Jersey I immediately knew that I wanted to make a button-down top out of it. I use this as a way of deciding whether or not to buy fabric, if I can't envision it as a garment then I don't get it. I've made a few things from Faberwood fabric in the past and I love the selection of fabrics that Fiona has. My Arum top, pineapple trousers and raindrop top (which I then remade here) are all made from gorgeous Faberwood fabrics. I already find it strange looking back at posts written a few years ago, the photos are so much worse and I look so young!

I do have a slight obsession with button-down jersey tops. As in, I've made at least four with plans to make more! I wear them all so much though, it's a style that I really like and one that can look really different depending on the shape of the top and the fabric. The first button-down top that I made was this one, which I then made again with long sleeves in white. I then made a version without a collar in navy last year which I really like and wanted to make again. This top is the same as the navy one but I think the different colours mean that they don't look too similar. What makes this fabric really perfect for a top like this one is that it's a lovely weight and really good quality (which is why I love organic jersey). I also love the flecks of colour on the cream background so much, they add such a nice detail. I love elevated basics and this top is exactly that.

I used my usual cheat button technique which I love, it involves sewing the buttons through both layers of fabric to avoid sewing buttonholes. I don't hate buttonholes but they're not particularly enjoyable to sew onto stretchy fabric. Using this cheat technique massively simplifies the sewing and avoids any messy buttonholes. I always use buttons from my dad's old shirts on these tops (I think he finds it quite strange that these buttons used to be on his shirt!), they're the perfect size and mean that I can get enough buttons that match.

I often finish jersey makes with a lettuce hem but wanted a crisper, neater finish on this top. I felt like the fabric, which is really high quality, deserved a proper finish. I'm really happy with the wide hem, it avoids the fabric twisting and showing the wrong side which I can't stand but is something that I wasn't aware of when I first started sewing with stretch and turned under too little fabric when it came to hemming. The other benefit of the hem is that it's different to the other similar tops that I already own. 

I'm so happy with this make, it's such a lovely feeling when something turns out exactly as planned! I really love this top, the style and fabric are both very 'me' and it's exactly the kind of thing that I wear all the time. 

Floral Jersey Wrap Top

I love having the opportunity to try out different fabrics and make things in a style that I wouldn't always choose. This top represents both of those things and is also a reminder of how much fun it can be to make something completely different as I really like the outcome! 

I've recently been liking fabrics with small floral prints more and more, I like to think that I'm old enough now to wear them without looking too childish! What I like about this fabric is that the background is navy, meaning that it still remains relatively in my comfort zone. It's lovely to find a jersey fabric with a print like this one too, I find that most of them are either striped or plain. The fabric in question comes from Visage Textiles so it's a great quality cotton jersey which is completely opaque. After making one item out of floral fabric I'm tempted to go all in and make lots more! I really love the tiny flowers of this Craft Cotton fabric and I'm still on the hunt for a perfect floral viscose.

Onto the design! I'm so proud of the drafting of this top because I've never made a proper wrap top before. Until recently I would never have seen myself wearing a wrap top but I've liked some of the RTW ones I've seen on the high street and my friend Alice (who I made this top for!) has one which looks great on her and I wanted to copy her! She very kindly sent me lots of photos of her top so that I was able to draft my own pattern. I'm so happy it worked, I wasn't really expecting it to! It's quite a tricky shape to get without any gaping but luckily jersey fabric is also very forgiving. 

I really like how the ties come together at the side and I also quite like the little ruffle effect you get at the back from where the tie comes round. I have no idea if mine wraps round the right way but I'm happy with it!

Head over to the Craft Cotton Co blog to read more about this top