The Editors Dresses

Sure, we aren’t allowed to enter the contests (after all, we’re on the judging panel, so it may just be considered a ‘conflict of interests’!), but that doesn’t mean we can’t sew along with the weekly challenge themes, right?! 😉

We three Monthly Stitch editors – Mel, Juliet and Kat – didn’t want to be left out of the Dresses week fun, so we put our heads together and thought – why not make the same dress pattern?

And so, we did!

We chose the Midsummer Night’s Dream dress from Papercut. Mel and Kat are both avowed Papercut fans, and for Juliet, this was her first time using a Papercut pattern.

Papercut Midsummer Night’s Dream dress pattern

Sadly, we didn’t quite manage to all get in the same place at the same time for photos, so you get a photo montage of us in our Midsummer Night’s Dream dress creations instead. 😉

It’s amazing how different a pattern can look when done in different fabrics, isn’t it?

Mel used a hot pink and black patterned viscose crepe that she found especially for making this dress, and which she describes has having the perfect drape for this style dress. There was a kind of boarder print to one selvedge edge of the fabric where the black print was more concentrated so she made sure that ended up on the open edge of the skirt pieces. She made bias binding out of the same fabric to use for the edging and shoulder straps. The bias binding was made using her bias tape maker and the iron, a technique she’s used in the past and finds really easy and effective.

 

 

Juliet used a blue sheer silk, a precious length of fabric that she purchased in Dunedin last year and has been hoarding ever since. Since it’s a sheer, she underlined it, which also made the silk easier to handle. While originally apprehensive of making this dress, as it was her first time using a Papercut pattern and she thought it looked intimidating, she ended up surprised by the simplicity of the pattern, and in a good way, too (there’s only four pattern pieces!). She’s really pleased with how well her Midsummer dress turned out.

 

 

 

It was Kat’s second time making up the Midsummer Night’s Dream pattern (you can see her first one over here) and she kinda broke the “rules” a bit with this one. She used a loosely-woven lightweight cotton, and instead of using bias binding for the edges added 1cm seam allowance, turned them under, and stitched them down with cotton tape on the inside to stop the loose weave of the cotton getting too stretched out. She also replaced the bias binding shoulder straps with wider straps, stitched down at the back and fastening with snap fasteners at the front (to make it nursing friendly for in a few months – planning ahead!). Oh, and she lengthened the waist ties by about 16cm each.

 

 

Detail of the gathers where the bodice meets the waist tie

 

All three of us really enjoyed making up the Midsummer Night’s Dream dress pattern, and are super happy with how our dresses turned out! 🙂