The Late Night Sewist

I saw this really good quality cotton batiste with a cool optical print in Athens. The whole roll of fabric was presented behind the door of the shop, in the street, as most of the Greek fabric shops do, but usually they keep the better stuff inside. One lady was looking at it and the moment I saw it, I knew I will buy it! In the end we both did, she wanted to make a skirt and I was sure it will become a simple dress, to show off the print.

I used KwikSew 2627 pattern for my dress. I omitted the sleeves and used view A for the round neckline (the other views have scoop necklines). I also added a full lining in white silk.

The dress was very easy to make, but the pattern is huge. According to my measures, I cut size S, but I should have opted for XS.

Here is my dress:

The fabric has a really cool effect in the middle, as it darkens and then lightens again. I managed to cut the dress so that the darkest part is right at the waist.

As you can see, unfortunately I didn´t manage to line up the print at the side seams, neither on the back. At the side seams it happened because as I cut out the pieces, I made the pieces match, but they didn´t any more after I made the bust darts in front. Should have figured it out earlier. I can live with it, because of the thin fabric and the silk lining, the dress is a heaven to wear on hot summer days.

Probably not easy to see, but the little button has the shape of a heart, a leftover from another dress from a post to come 🙂

The obi-belt I am wearing with the dress, is also made by me and especially for this dress, it needed a belt. The instructions are here. Here is a photo from that website, but it seems to be a courtesy of Vogue/Butterick.

I used imitation black leather, found in Athens, just for 6 EUR/metre. The instructions of the pattern are easy to follow, maybe the most time-consuming was to enlarge the pieces. My sewing machine did fine, but at a point where I had to sew through three layers of synthetic leather, the top and bottom being the right side out, the teeth of the machine started scratching and damaging the material, so this part had to be glued only. And of course, AFTER taking the photos I noticed, that on one side the glue has let go, and the wider part of the strap has unfolded. A minor problem that I will fix asap.

I think the tassels of the belt match very well with the tassels on my shoes, that are very simple black synthetic suede flats from H&M, a gift from my friends Giorgos and Stefania in Athens, right before leaving for summer to Estonia.