Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew, Skater Dress

What comes first, the pattern or the fabric?

Well, in this instance, when I saw this red and black stretchy houndstooth fabric I knew I needed it in my stash. I flicked back through a few patterns I had kicking around that I had not yet had a go at, and thought after the success of my Simple Sew Ruby Dress from issue 4 of Love Sewing, I would have a go at this similar skater dress from issue 8.

There a few differences in the pattern- The obvious one being the Skater Dress has sleeves- so less interfacing to worry about! The bodice darts are placed differently as well, which I think maybe works a bit better for my smaller bust. The full skirt uses the same pattern as the Ruby Dress, so there was no need for extra cutting out. Yay!

Making up went pretty smoothly in terms of fit, but the stretchy quality of the fabric seemed to send my machine into sporadic states of meltdown. I had my stretch needle in place which seemed to be fine for straight stitch, but zigzag stitch turned out to be a nightmare. So much so that to save completely destroying areas of seam, in places I abandoned zig zagging my edges altogether... Thankfully I didn't have to worry about fraying using knit!
I was excited about using my (stretch) twin-needle for the hem, but again it was not to be. No matter how much I twiddled with the tension dial my stitches were a bit loose and wobbly.

If I was making another skater dress, I would definitely make the bodice pattern longer. I really should have listened to blogging buddy Shauni at Magnificent Thread as she said just that when she made her festive Skater Dress a few months back. Thankfully I don't think the dress turned out too short- the drape in the fabric making it hang pretty well and stop me from feeling too leggy (is there such thing as too leggy?).

The dress looks pretty good on- I have some handy accessories that look pretty neat with it too! If my machine hadn't been acting up it would have been a joy to make, despite the pattern instructions not being totally clear. Some bits were printed in the wrong order and I'm fairly certain that the seam allowance wasn't added onto the facing pattern. Thankfully this wasn't the end of the world for me as I ended up doubling the seam allowance for fit at the zip, therefore the neckline matching up with my too-short-interfacing. Phew!
The pattern suggests buying 2.4m of fabric- and I have some remaining! Hopefully I'll be able to find a suitable pattern to make good use of it!

x

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