I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore
Today I'm sharing a slightly seasonally inappropriate dress. Not only is it a racerback cut, but I've also made it out of linen... I've had it on my list to make for ages and I'm glad I've finally done it!
It's the Hey June Handmade Trevi dress and I'm really happy with it. The drafting and instructions are the usual high standard I've come to expect from Hey June and now I want to make the top version as well. I made a size 2 without FBA. A few of Hey June's patterns offer a version with a dart added on, for anyone who needs a full bust adjustment. Isn't that great?
It's a very simple dress: classic shape, curved hem, racerback and look at the button back! I really love it. All the edges are finished with bias tape, which is something I enjoy doing but I'm aware not everyone feels the same way about it.
My fabric, as I've said, is linen. I got it at Merchant and Mills in the summer, when I visited with Mel. ❤ It seems softer than other pure linens I've sewn with before and the colour is so rich and vivid.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that the pattern calls for 2yds of fabric for all sizes. Mine being a size 2 (the second smallest), I ended up with a full metre of surplus fabric. Yes, I only used 1m because my bias tape was made from a different fabric. So that was a little annoying but I managed to get another dress cut out of the rest.
The buttons I used were also bought at Merchant and Mills and they're cotton buttons, dyed especially to match the linen. They have them in all colours to match their linens.
Linen is usually considered to be a summer fibre but I don't care. In fact, on the very day I finished this, Vicky at @sewstainability was talking about wearing linen all year round in this post and I think that's totally doable. It works for me with leggings, boots and a chunky cardigan as you can see below.
I like to make garments that I can wear throughout the year. I don't pack my wardrobe away like a lot of people seem to do. Firstly, I couldn't be bothered and I would probably end up making do with flip flops and sundresses in December. Secondly, I'm always, always cold so it takes a lot for me to wear a sundress on its own. I factor that in when I'm deciding what to sew, so most of my wardrobe works for all seasons. Obviously, I have some pieces that are exclusive to hot or cold weather but they tend to be few and far between.
How do you deal with your wardrobe and the changing of the seasons?