The Anna Lou Dress - Sewcialists #polkadotjanuary

I'm sliding this dress in under the wire for the Sewcialists #polkadotjanuary.  I finished this  in the second week of January when I was off on leave, but then I got a cold and had to take the next week off sick!  I was only fit for lying on the sofa with a box a tissues and a bottle of Irn Bru, and alternately watching Craftsy classes and knitting.  On the plus side, I finished a scarf/shawl thingy that I started before christmas, but it still needs blocked.

 

Anyway, this post was mostly written about two weeks' ago, but I only got to take some photos today.  It's bright and sunny here in Belfast today, hence the sun flare in my modelled photos; but don't let that fool you, it is also blowing a hooley - which is Belfast for it's really windy.  There was nearly an embarassing incident this afternoon when I was coming into the house.  The wind caught the back of the skirt, but luckily my sister was right behind me, and grabbed it.   So, onto the dress!  This is the second of my three planned dresses using the Tilly And The Buttons Lilou dress skirt, and this time the bodice is the good old By Hand London Anna dress bodice. 

It's a bit breezy!

It was pretty easy to mash the two patterns together, all I had to do was to move the  front and back bodice darts a few millimetres to line up with the pleats.

 

My fabric is some cotton sateen that I bought in Craftswoman Fabrics in Carrickfergus last November.  Some of our local sewists adviced me to make the trip, and I can't believe that I left it so long to go to this shop, because it's fantastic.  The thing that put me off was the distance, about 40 minutes drive from my house (although some of that was being stuck in road works).  Now, I fully appreciate that that is nothing to most folks, but after about 20 minutes of driving I get really bored, and also I have absolutely no sense of direction.  Thank goodness for the sat nav on my phone!  Here's what I bought:

Rubbish phone photo!

Top left: Blue denim for a pair of Sewaholic Thurlow trousers.  These  were mostly made during the Christmas holidays, but I fell out of love for them, and only finished them just over a week ago.  But that's for another post.

Top right: Black ponte roma that has already been made into a Tilly And The Buttons Coco Top.  I didn't blog it, but you can see it here on Instagram.

Middle left: Flowery cotton poplin which is going to be another pair of Tilly And The Buttons Margot pyjama bottoms.

Middle right:  Black and light brown ponte roma which is going to be a Jennifer Lauren Vintage Bronte Top.

Bottom left: Cotton sateen for this post's dress.

Bottom right: Purple flowery cotton poplin for another pair of Tilly And The Buttons Margot pyjama bottoms.  These have been made, and you can see them here on Instagram.

This is the first time that I have used cotton sateen, and it's lovely.  It's heavier that poplin, and has a slight stretch.  I bought two metres at 58" wide, and it cost £8.95 per metre.

This went together with no problems, and I added some pockets from Simplicity 2444.  I'm very pleased with my pattern matching on the front at the waist,

sadly the pattern matching part of my brain must have went for it's tea break when I cut out the back...

As mentioned above, this was made when I was off work two weeks' ago.  I had to get my car fixed after one of my neighbour's reversed into it, (neighbour was very apologetic, but these things happen, and I'm not going to fall out with someone over a car). I got a courtesy car, but I didn't like driving it, so it sat on my driveway until I got my own car back.  This was a good thing, because it meant that I couldn't go faffing about anywhere, and I could tackle my list of sewing jobs.

 

I made most of this dress in one day, which impressed me mightily, and then left it to hang to see if the hem would drop and hemmed it the next day.  I made this dress a bit shorter than my other dresses, and whilst it feels short, I really like this length.   I also made this shopping bag, which was trickier that it should have been, and my machine did not appreciate the many layers of thick fabric.  Then I finished the above mentioned trousers and shawl, and traced and toiled my Deer and Doe Sureau dress pattern, but the sleeves still need a bit of work.

I have also started another quilt (after I said I wouldn't!).  This one isn't as big as the last one I made, and is also for my friend's baby.  Oh, and I have cast on the Chuck jumper, and it's going well.  But they are all for other posts.

Have a great week,

Lynne