Zircon Sweater Dress

For Frocktober I decided to make the pattern I received in round one of the Pattern Swap this year. The Zircon Sweater Dress. In my part of the hemisphere it’s getting decidedly cooler and my sewing is definitely reflecting that.

I was intimidated by the shaped yokes on the Zircon as I thought they looked complicated and fiddly. I’ll admit that they’re a little awkward in places, but mostly they’re pretty straightforward.

If you’ve made a few basic tshirts/jumpers/tshirt dresses in simple shapes then once you’ve done the yokes this is really quite a straightforward sew. I didn’t really need to look at the instructions much at all.

I was worried about the cocoon shape and whether it would work on me, but I actually quite like it. I’m not going to be wearing it everyday, but it does make a nice change to wear something with a more relaxed shape.

Let’s take a moment to admire these crazy fabrics I found on myfabrics.co.uk. They have a really good range of sweater fabrics, better choice than I’ve seen anywhere else and when I saw this awesome geometric carnival of colour I thought it would be perfect for the yoke. I teamed it with the grey marl pineapples because who wouldn’t want pineapples on their sweater, right?

Whilst we’re talking fabrics, it’s worth nothing the fabric requirements listed on the pattern are pretty generous, and I definitely have plenty of spare fabric for future combinations.

I’m pleased with how neat the corners are on my shaped yoke and hem pieces. Precision sewing on my entry level sewing machine isn’t something it’s exactly made for, but I think I got away with it.

Future versions definitely add justification for ‘new sewing machine’ being at the top of my christmas list this year though.

Please excuse the wrinkled bum area, I’d been wearing the dress all day. Divert your attention instead towards the neckline, where you’ll see the neckband gapes at the back a little. It fits fine at the front, so I think I probably didn’t stretch it evenly all the way round when I pinned it.

The sleeves are a little short for me and my monkey arms, but I always roll my sleeves up regardless, so I’m not even likely to bother altering this in future versions.

My favourite thing about this dress though has got to be that someone said to me today; “I love your clothes, where do you get them from?” Lady, you can’t buy awesome jumper game like this in a shop.

I can see me making a couple of versions of this pattern, with the addition of some pockets I think, as well as a sweater version or two.

I probably won’t have the time to take part in November’s challenge as Christmas present sewing has thoroughly taken over, but I’ll be back in December/January hopefully.