Skater dresses should be
made compulsory. Here is mine!
This is possibly the nicest
dress I've made, or at the very least up there with the likes of my
Darling Ranges dresses.
The idea to make a skater
dress came when I couldn't make the Hummingbird top work for me. I
made a few muslins of the Hummingbird but decided to throw in the
towel. I was still keen to make a knit and something peplum-y.
Initially I was going to try and make a peplum top from the Renfrew
but decided to go the whole hog and make a skater dress.
I made at least two muslins,
possibly three. I started by tracing out my Renfrew bodice pieces,
cutting it off at the waist and adding a seam allowance. I cut
out a circle skirt. I was lazy and didn't follow any tutorials to
calculate the waist circumference. I just guessed and of course it
came out way too big. The skirt was gathered in to fit the waist.
After the first muslin I
could see the style had potential but needed a lot of
adjustments. I wanted my dress to go in at the waist, and the first
muslin was more of a dropped waist. I also needed to cut out a lot
more from bottom of the back bodice for it to hit at the waist, far
more than I had to cut from the front. It took a bit of fiddling
and adjusting to get the side seams to match. I also made the
neckline higher than in the original pattern. One or two muslins
later and I was happy.
This red fabric was only
ever intended to be muslin fabric. My chap bought it at an auction.
It's stretchy and has a waffly texture on the front, and a shiny knit
like texture on the back. I have some blue fabric the same and I'm
convinced the previous owner bought it to make Super Hero costumes. Despite that I really like the fabric. I usually avoid red because I've read that with my colouring I should steer clear, particularly next to my face.
Well I'm happy to break the fashion rules.
I still refused to follow
tutorials and winged the cutting of the circle skirt. The waist
was smaller than the muslin but still too big. I had to gather the skirt again but I'm not worried. If anything
this adds extra twirliness to the skirt. Speaking of which, how much
fun is twirling around the living room in a circle skirt? I've never
worn one of these things before so the novelty may take a while to
wear off.
The dress was really easy to
sew up. The top was sewn as per the Renfrew instructions but I
did the neckband differently. I sewed it more like the Pendrell
neckline but in reverse so the band shows on the right side. (The
Pendrell neckband instructions are here.)
I serged my seams together
with a zig zag stitch, including the waistline seam, after trimming
them down to about 0.5 cm. I then pressed the waist seam up
and edge stitched the seam from the front.
The only downside to making
a circle skirt is hemming the damn thing. I tried to stitch the hem on my machine but it didn't like it one bit. The Superman
fabric must be rubbery or something as it kept sticking to the
needle. I didn't have this problem with any of the other seams.
There was no alternative but to hand stitch it. I used the blind
catch stitch, which I learned from Gertie's book. The hem has come
out really well. Despite moaning about hand stitching I have come to
really enjoy it and I don't mind a bit of hand stitching in my makes
every now and then.
I'm really pleased with the
dress and I'm looking forward to wearing it. I wasn't thinking of a
Christmas dress when I made it but it will be the perfect dress to
wear at Christmas!
I've already cut out a
second skater dress in the same fabric but blue (a great cobalt
blue).
Happy sewing
Really, really cute! This is a perfect Christmas dress, but it will be lovely for all kinds of other occasions, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonja! I just know I'll be wearing this all the time!
DeleteIt's beautiful! I love that red, and the twirly, drapey skirt is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanna! You've made some lovely circle skirts so I'm glad you approve!
DeleteThis looks like a really comfortable dress, I bet you'll wear it lots!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachael. I certainly will and starting with today just around the house!
Deletewow amazing dress love your blog i am your new follower please check my blog and follow me back if youn like it :*
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! I'll come and check your blog out now!
DeleteLove your version of the skater dress! I really really need to make one myself :) This is the perfect Christmas dress too!
ReplyDeleteThank Jen! A red skater dress will look lovely on you! Great to see you back to your blog after your holiday.
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