Penny dress around the world

When I was asked by the ever so funny and beautiful Bettina from Stahlarbeit to be part of this Penny Dress around the world blog tour, how could I refuse?I adore Bettina and I adore the shirt dress and the fact that this looked like a nice simple sew was a bonus for me plus I love being part of a sewing blog tour, you get to see so many different versions of the same style of dress on a range of people and get so inspired by every person’s individual take on the pattern.

For me, I decided to go for a vintage take on this classic shirt dress. Mine you, I did change my mind only 10 or more times before settling on this choice. I originally bought some liberty fabrics for this but after seeing how similiar in colour it is to the super gorgeous Lesile from Threadbeargarments I scraped that idea, so I thought maybe a lovely rayon might be better then as I was shifting through the cupboards, I came across my shelf of vintage fabrics and this piece of fabric just screamed “pick me pick me” and so I did.

This was the first time I sewed up a pattern by Sew Over it though I do own a couple of her other gorgeous patterns (I’m sure we have all bought patterns that just sit there waiting to be made up  … mine just happens to be waiting a little longer unless I get a nudge like a blog tour LOL)For this dress, after checking my measurements against the size chart and finished garment chart, I decided to make a 8UK since I was in between sizes and there seem to be plenty of ease in the bodice and I’m glad I did.

The overall fit of the dress is very comfortable and you can wear the dress with or without a belt since it has the elastic at the waist to cinch in the dress and the circle skirt drapes beautifully making it fun and feminine.  Since I’m on the short side, I did have to reduce the length of the skirt by 10cms for it to hit just below my knee.  The construction of this dress is fairly straight forward which is great for an adventurous beginner. The flat collar and faux button placket is cleverly constructed in a way I’ve never done before so it was great to learn a new method and I found it fairly easy and quick to sew after reading the instructions more thoroughly.

I also included some additional cosmetic changes to the dress such as adding undertstitching to the back collar seam. I find that this helps the collar to sit nice and flat when you press it and also made two small belt loops on the sides of the bodice/skirt to help hold my belt in place when I wear one but if I don’t, it’s still small and discret enough not to be too noticeable. Something I might also add next time is pockets, I just LOVE my pockets and would probably add pockets on almost anything.

All in all, the dress came together fairly quickly and I’m so chuffed with how the vintage fabric really represents this timeless sense of style. Now no blog tour is complete without some incentive to help you get your sewing mojo along so for a chance to win a copy of this Penny dress pattern, all you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter giveaway , there are five patterns to be won courtsey of Sew Over It 

Also don’t forget to check out the other fabulous Penny dresses by these gorgeous bloggers:

Tuesday, August 8th
Eleonore – Hello Holli – Metterlink – Threadbear Garments

Wednesday, August 9th
Simply January – Min Deern – Liivi & Liivi

Thursday, August 10th
Aennisews – Kreamino – Mein gewisses Etwas – WalliBa

Friday, August 11th
Just Add Fabric – Little Cumquat – Sew Mariefleur

Saturday, August 12th
Froelein Tilia – Kathis Naehwelt – Stahlarbeit

 

Thank you for reading and happy sewing.