Alex Shirt Dress

Alex Shirt Dress

Yay, so excited to see indie pattern month back and so many motivational posts from the new editors.

I have really neglected my WordPress blog in favour of instagram, there is such a supportive sewing community on instagram and so much quicker to post when I am so busy.

Week one is based on dresses so having seen so many Alex dresses from Sew over it online and having the pattern in my stash I decided to go for it.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/152506214@N05/76ohn3

This pattern comes in two views and clearly for this week I made the dress view;

Pattern outlines

I bought some cotton fabric from fabricland for about £5 a metre. I’m still not decided if it’s too heavy for this dress but I need to wear it a few times first to make a decision.

Flat felled side seam

I decided to go for quality on the finish and not just rush through like I have a tendency to do. I used flat felled seams for the sides, arms and sleeve heads. The arms got a bit fiddly to see to the end but glad I persevered as it’s a much nicer finish.

Flat felling the arm

I made a straight size 10 as other posts had indicated it came up large. The shoulders are a little too wide but think this could be due to the fabric being a little stiff and not draping as well as the version in the instructions.

Inside looking pretty

The pattern has a clever way of sewing the yoke do it covers all seams and with the flat felled seams it looks really tidy inside. I originally thought I needed to do a burrito roll for the yoke but after sewing realised it was wrong and had to unpick!

Sparkly buttons

I bought some sparkly buttons thinking they just a little bit glittery but when I got them home and turned them over I saw they were very sparkly. After a vote over on Instagram I opted for the full glitter!!

The dress has rolled up sleeves with a tab to hold them in place:

Sleeve tab

I used my amazing janome dks100 to see all the button holes and even to sew the buttons on. If you drop the feed dogs and select zig zap stitch and the settings below, the machine will see your buttons on for you. I use washi tape to hold the button in place and then tear away afterwards.

Machine settings

So here it is, my finished Alex dress:

Finished dress, front view

Finished dress, side view

Finished dress back view

Collar close

And finally photos of me wearing it:

Front view

Back view

Unbelted

If you have enjoyed reading this then please find me on here or instagram under Craftsewandsewindorset