My entry in the Print and Plain Sewing Competition, by Vi M.

A little about me: I’ve been sewing for 4 years and sew from commercial patterns.I love sewing and wish I had more time. Generally I try the main pieces of the pattern first in some scrap fabric so I can adjust for sizing and fitting if necessary.

My friend Kat is a sewing fanatic and we sew together every Sunday afternoon at my place.

The pattern I used was Burda 7077 pattern. I decided to use the sleeveless version as I wanted a dress that I could wear out to dinner on a nice summers evening.

I decided to combine 2 different fabrics -the bodice (and band at the bottom of dress) is a great retro cotton print from that I purchased from Rathdowne Remnants. This is a great fabric outlet as I had difficulty trying to decide what to purchase. The black cotton broadcloth is from Spotlight that I used for body of the dress.

This is a photo of the front of the upper bodice. I like the clean lines of the design and I think the print really adds to the funky simplicity of the garment.

I decided to line the upper bodice with white Bemsilk as it keeps everything neat on the inside and also adds a bit of ‘body” to the garment.

I also used a black invisible zipper in the CB as I didn’t want any top-stitching to appear on the dress. I wanted to keep the design lines clear to emphasis the great print.

As the dress required more fabric than I had purchased I decided to add to the length of the dress by using more of the patterned fabric in a lower hem band. Lesson to self – when you love the fabric buy more than you THINK !! you will need…….

I had to fit the dress before I finalized making it. The pattern did require adjustment but at least I now have a perfectly fitting pattern that I can make many more of.

And this is my dress that I made. My dad took the photos for me and we ended up having a few words – you know what Dad’s are like – they want everything perfect, including this photo. He was a little anxious that he took the ” correct ” one – actually he took 10’s of photos as he kept moving me around the backyard to get the correct positioning. Thanks to my Dad. !!!!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my adventure.  Vi M.