More Patterns!

I mentioned in my last post that I bought some Butterick patterns. They have arrived! So excited!!

As you can see below there are two dress patterns and a coat. Although I do love this pattern and can't wait to start it, I will need to find the perfect fabric and lining. So I am going to leave the coat aside for the next couple of months, especially since summer is approaching down here (although with Victorian weather it's always hard to tell if you going to need a coat or not!) and focus on the two dress patterns.

 

I have three weddings coming up in November, December and February and have grand ambitions of sewing a dress for each event. The first is already in the works and I am in the very slow process of making a (hopefully) wearable muslin.

I love this retro dress and have seen a finished version over on the Craftsy website. I am trying to decide between version A or A1. Both are super cute! Any ideas on which is better?

Red isn't my colour and I have my eye on some beautiful blue silk from Joy's. I also just bought some black fabric that is 55% silk and 45% linen that was $12 a meter at Spotlight (am VERY excited about this purchase), maybe that would look nice? The pattern recommends linen, chambray, crepe, shutung or cotton broadcloth. Still learning about the different fabrics, so maybe my linen silk blend will be perfect.

Interestingly, there are no recommendations on the type of lining you would use. I wonder if that is because the dress is not suppose to be lined. I think I would still line the skirt.

The second dress is one of Gertie's patterns (of Gertie's blog for better sewing fame) and I really like it because it's a bit different. Really unsure about the type of fabric to use on this dress and the colour as well. Any ideas on types of fabric that could work? The pattern recommends faille, crepe de chine,  taffeta, cotton damask. The underlining should be crepe de chine. It also calls for covered boning, which I have never worked with, nor have I worked with any of the recommended fabrics. Eeek.  This project may have to be for the Feb wedding as it seems a bit advanced for me! I might need to sew up quite a few dresses to get some experience and confidence before I tackle this one!

No matter when I start this project, I can see that it is going to be hard choice on the fabric and there is going have to be some serious fabric shopping expeditions needed to find the perfect match for this pattern. I can already hear my husband groaning at the thought!