Details Honey

Here we are in the thick of Spring!

I have dreamed of the perfect fabric for this Vogue 1548 Guy Laroche pattern for quite some time. The model on the pattern is wearing this dress in white which to me was very chic but not bold enough. It was then I realized I didn’t want to use a solid this go round. Just before I became a Spoonflower Ambassador I racked up on a few prints I had my eye on. A few of those prints were obviously my sis Katie Kortman. So I had this Spoonflower Silky Faille that I never used and my machine was ready!

Designing

This pattern has lots of details; topstitching, making bias binding, covered buttons, pleats, invisible zipper, gathered hems, fully lined, and a good bit of hand sewing and I really wanted to highlight as much of these details as I could. If you don’t already know, I’ll usually start with a contrast. So I happened to have some sky blue linen on hand and it was perfect to contrast with this Katie Kortman print. The hard part was deciding which areas would be sky blue contrast and which wouldn’t. The binding on the sleeves were definitely an area I wanted to bring attention to so light blue on the sleeves it is. The overlay is another must for contrasting and when the dress isn’t completely buttoned up you get this peekaboo of blue and it makes me so happy. I also wanted to add the blue linen to the hem of the sleeves and the dress but I changed my mind (I wanted to use every inch of this Silky Faille).

Construction

This dress is not beginner level friendly!

The binding was one of the more tedious steps but I managed to cut down a little time with using my bias binding tool.
Tip: Be sure to always change your needles for new projects. Topstitching the binding on the sleeves are thick layers and this Spoonflower Silky Faille likes my Schmetz Chrome needle the most.
At first glance I thought that the gathered hem was achieved using elastic. Instead your gathering the outside only. I made a slight change to the sleeves and actually added elastic because the fit around the wrist was too baggy for me. This is totally by preference.

As always thanks for stopping by. I do hope you enjoyed this colorful Guy Larouche Dress.
Peace & Blessings

Purple Rain-Bow

Welcoming Spring

This Spring I’m all about the many shades of purple! I’ve been sleeping on this purple stretch corduroy from Melanated Fabrics all winter and finally decided on the perfect match. Sorry they’re all out of this purple but there are a few other colors to choose from. I used McCalls 7997 to create this look and the darts on this one help to give the dress a little more shape for those curves. If darts aren’t your strong points, check out this method I use to cut the dart portions out of the pattern pieces for easy markings.

There’s quite a bit of handsewing for the hem, sleeves, and lining. So if handsewing isn’t your jam, I’d get ready for it with this pattern. I managed to sit and handsewing the entire dress while watching a movie. The buttonholes were also fun (not). Corduroy can be tricky and with this being a stretch corduroy, the fabric wasn’t as firm as I would like for a buttonhole. You can strengthen your buttonholes by adding cording or a stronger interfacing on your front facing.

Overall, this was an average sewing project. There aren’t welt pockets but if you want to get jazzy you could definitely add them.

Tip: I cut out the front facing pattern piece with angle incorrectly. I was definitely not paying close attention. So you want to be sure if you’re sewing this version, to cut the slanted facing piece correctly. The same goes for your lining. Luckily I had enough corduroy to cut out one more facing on the correct side.

I hope you enjoyed my Purple Rain-bow lewk! Until next time,

Peace & Blessings!