Pattern: Kwik Sew 3758, size XS

Fabric: Kauffman radiance cotton/silk for skirt, 100% cotton jersey for the top

Shoes: Kensie Girl (Navy with white polka dots, can you tell?)

Notes: I feel like I’ve been planning this project forever.  You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to find a navy/white stripe jersey with this size stripes (in my opinion, this is the most flattering width of horizontal stripe.)  I finally found some on ebay, and paired it with this red cotton/silk blend from fabric.com.  Let me tell you… the red fabric is not washable.  It does say to dryclean it, but I washed in hopes of removing some of the sheen.  It looks more like sueded silk now.  It also bled, even after several washes, so I’m pretty sure this dress is destined to be dryclean only.

I actually used the wrong side of the fabric for the skirt, and the right side for the belt.  I love this dress – it’s exactly as I wanted, and very flattering.  I made a size XS with only two alterations – I made a 4 inch hem, thus shortening the dress by 3 inches (I had cut the longer length, but decided that the dirndl wasn’t nearly flared enough for that to look good.)  I did not include the clear elastic that I was instructed to stitch into the skirt’s seam allowance after sewing the pieces together.  I’m not sure the purpose of it – the skirt is already gathered, and it doesn’t work without the belt.  And there are few things in this world that I hate more than sewing elastic in while stretching it… it always manages to tear loose.

The belt is a separate piece, and I have several other dresses it will work on.  I only interfaced the back side, as I didn’t have any good fusible and I was worried about the pellon bubbling up later.  The top of the dress is very nice – and the reason why I got the pattern, since I already have an obi belt pattern, and the skirt is basically two gathered rectangles with pockets.  I love a wide scoopneck, and I was surprised by how well it fit – I had read some warnings about Kwik Sew running really big, but this fits fine.  The instructions were excellent – I’m really interested in some other Kwik Sew patterns now, as they are definitely a step up from big 4 patterns, at least in terms of constriction with knits (1/4″ seam allowances, yay!)

This is my outfit today: day 9 of Self-stitched September!  To show that I’m not forgetting any days, here is day 8:

Dress: Butterick 5490, blogged here

Sweater: Old Navy, thrifted

Shoes: Mia (not recommended, they are super uncomforable.)

And a vintage Sarah Coventry brooch that matches the dress.  I was totally unconvinced about this dress when I finished it, but I’ve worn it quite a bit.  I love the way the pleats in the front fall in graceful folds.  And it matches this sweater.  I’m becoming pretty convinced about me being cool toned now… I can definitely wear these sorts of icy pastels, which I would never have dared to wear before (I thought they would wash me out… but that’s only ivory/ecru/beige colors.)