Why, hello there!

Howdy! I’m Jess, and I like to make things. Those things usually vacillate between sewn and knitted goods, but I occasionally get a hankering to try something new or revisit an old hobby.

It’s July, so I’d imagine it’s pretty darn hot most places in the country, but the weather has been pretty darn oppressive lately in southern Wisconsin. We’ve had nearly or over 100 degree highs for the last week and a half or so, and the rain keeps just missing us, adding to less than .2 inch of rain in June (not much in May) and no precipitation so far this month. Maybe this is normal where you’re from, but here it’s crazy hot (and dry). If there’s one thing we like to do up here, it’s complain – and the weather is good fodder.

So, what to do when it’s so awful out that you’d vouch it’s hotter than Hell, despite the fact that you’ve never had a near death experience? Make a dress – everybody can appreciate some ventilation.

I’ve had a lack of sewing mojo as of late (which I’m working on revitalizing) due to garments that had slight fit issues. Overall, they turned out pretty well, but I blame their shortcomings on skipping out on creating a complete muslin for each (I just made a bodice mock up, for D girls), so I’ve decided to suck it up and just do it from now on.

Due to said mojo degeneration, I decided to make a quick dress that would most likely fit without much hemming and hawing:

Butterick 5778

View A

In pattern sizes, I usually end up somewhere between a size 14 and 16 (I’m typically an 8 in RTW) and due to the use of a knit and the amount of ease I determined was necessary, I cut a 12 in this pattern. I also did not do a FBA (full bust adjustment) because of the stretch. Knits are so lovely and forgiving.

I used a rayon blend two way stretch jersey knit in the color “Victorian Fuchsia” that I purchased from Fabric.com in 2010. Blended with what? Totally no idea and it’s no longer available so I have no way to check. The pattern indicated I should use a four way stretch fabric instead, but I ignored it. Here’s what I ended up with!

You can kind of see here how the two way stretch wasn’t so helpful with fit. The “sleeves” are just finished on the edges and then rolled over. It was a struggle to get them to do so, as there wasn’t much stretch around the curves of the underarm. If I were to do it again with the same type of knit, I’d use a self binding, or even a facing, along the sleeve hem. A four way knit would’ve also helped with some vertical stretch for the *ahem* girls.

The cowl hangs a bit funny (hard to see here) because I cut it on the grain instead of on the bias. This would have been better if I had used the “correct” four way stretch knit. I also left the elastic out of the waist because it didn’t seem to sit well when it was in and it works/looks just fine without it. Whateva – I do what I want!

Remember that cute doggie from the first photo? That’s Oscar the Boxer, whose illustrious master is my wonderful boyfriend, Mr. 5. :) He’s the biggest dog I’ve ever known (90 pounds!) and also the most well behaved. That being said, I also had to include this snap, despite the look on my face:

During our little photo shoot, Oscar decided to “assume the position” to poo directly behind me. Mr. 5 and I laughed our asses off, and O sauntered off to find more private facilities. :P

The Author and her Photographer – the handsome Mr. 5.

In a nutshell: I’m so glad it was only a high of 89 today and Butterick 5778 was a quick sew and nicely fitted design. If you’re at all interested in making it – just do it. :)

Save