Perhaps I was prompted by the lovely Spring weather we’ve been experiencing over the last week, but a couple of days ago I dug out the following project, which had been languishing incomplete in my spare room since last Summer!
The pattern is an Amy Butler design, from her midwest modern range. I hit on it last year, when searching for mini dress patterns. The standard pattern is for a tunic, but I was working to the mini dress version, which hangs just a bit longer- though not much on me, I must admit! Definitely one to be worn over leggings or jeans 🙂
I decided against using fabric from the Amy Butler range, instead using a very lightweight cotton print I picked up at Abakhans in Manchester. I find it’s really important to have a feel for how the fabric will drape when making clothes, and think I would always hesitate to buy online- even though the choice is so much wider. The dress is lined with muslin, so this deals with the slight transparency of the exterior fabric whilst detracting little from the drape. I really like the button up yoke at the back of the dress. I opted for wooden buttons, and I think they work well against the fabric.
Overall, this project was fairly straightforward. Assembling the yoke was the most complicated part of the process (and inevitably that’s where the gap in the project occurred!), but aside from that I had little problems. I had read about other peoples experiences of using the pattern, and it was highlighted that the armholes could be a touch on the tight side. For this reason, I decided to adjust the armholes by 1/2″ , and it seems to have worked really well- so am glad I took heed of this advice!
Berry Crafts 