The idea of a nice warm knit dress for winter has been brewing away in the back of my mind for a little while - but not anything as simple as finding a pattern and getting to work. No, no, no! This was a long-sleeve t-shirt dress which was a combination of the Mission Maxi by Jamie Christine, a Renfrew for the scoop neck (so I didn't have to calculate the neck band) and contrasting of the Ensis Tee. Now put that on boil and stir occasionally.
I'm feeling okay about the finished result. I've worn it a couple of times and usually with a pair of black stockings, but today it's bare legs for these photos - sorry legs might be a bit bright, they haven't seen the light of day for a couple of months now, it being winter 'n all.
The dress is beautifully warm with the body made from a snuggly soft thin striped merino from The Fabric Store, the top bodice and sleeve from a ponte jersey knit. It's loose fitting and very forgiving, but with a bit of shape so it doesn't hang like a sack.
A couple of things that need addressing before making another ... the sleeves are just too long. I added 1/2" to the Renfrew pattern - well that's what I wrote on my notes, but it looks as if I added 1.5". While the sleeves can double as hand warmers, they are just too long :(
Really, just look at those sleeves! I suppose I could just cut off the cuff and reattach. Hmmmm I just might do that.
I'm not too sure about the shoulder width either. I made another Renfrew, that I haven't blogged yet, and after making that one I decided that the shoulder width of this dress could afford to be wider, so I added 1/4" to the shoulder seam using the cut a spread method, but I think I could have been a little more conservative and just added 1/8".
The underarm side seam could also have some fabric removed, but I'm still trying to work out in my head how I might do that without actually reducing the armseye and making the upper sleeve too tight. I've got this dilemma with pretty much everything with sleeves.
This is a very easy dress to wear and it is great for wearing to work when I've got a day of desk bound things to do (and I feel like eating good warm hearty winter food!)
Not many photos as it started to shower just as I got outside with the camera.
A few more photos on my Flickr -->
I like the length of your sleeves here Sandra - I'm always tugging mine down (and can hear my mother's voice in my head saying 'don't do that, you'll stretch your jersey'). Hope you don't mind but I'm just about to mention you and your lovely Cordova jacket in a blog post... please tell me now if you mind, Andrea
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrea - my little pet peeve are sleeves that are meant to be long but because I have long arms they aren't long enough, but I thought I might have gone a bit too far with these ones. By all means, mention away - I feel completely honoured.
DeleteI'm digging the sleeves too. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks - they are snuggly for winter.
DeleteGreat dress. You've given me another idea for stretching the value from my latest pattern success the Ensis tee by Papercut.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gail. Do it, do it, do it!
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