I really love this dress.
The pattern is Butterick 5315, which is sadly out of print, but still available right now on their website. The fabric I used is a charcoal double-knit. Since it's an interlock knit, it has horizontial stretch, but not vertical. The pattern was intended for a woven fabric (like the one I made in 2009), but this knit translated pretty well. The only mod I had to make was to take it in a couple of inches at the waist, which worked just fine. Oh, and I eliminated the zipper, becuase this dress stretches enough to not require one.
As you can see here, all of the stitching was done with yellow thread, and the collar was finished with some homemade yellow bias tape. The pockets are also out of yellow fabric. The buttons are a mis-matched set that I got from the vintage button lady at the NJ Sheep & Wool festival. It's nice to start using those buttons and not just collect them!
Also, do you see the "KRISTY" label? I finally ordered some personalized labels, and it's been fun sewing them into my garments.
I got some more practice doing buttonholes on this dress. Although my sewing machine complelely balked on the bottom button because it was too close to the seam for the skirt. So I hand stitched something that looks a lot like a buttonhole, and then sewed the button on permanently. The other ones all are completely functional.
Here is a back view of the dress. It's got some nice detail with the top and bottom pieces, and the back pleat. It also makes the dress give comfortably when moving in it.
This is definitely a cool-weather weight dress. The fabric is heavy (and it swings delightfully when twirling). So realistically I need to wear something with it to cover my arms in the cool weather. As I was making this dress I saw a cardgian at Banana Republic that seemed ideal.
I could not be happier with this dress. Yay!
ohhh that really is perfection with the yellow cardi!
Posted by: Kelly | November 13, 2011 at 01:16 PM
Lovely dress! Great details in the design. I love grey with yellow, such a high contrast but never jarring.
Posted by: Brenda | November 14, 2011 at 05:23 PM