Matilda Dress

A perfectly autumnal Matilda dress. This pattern came with an issue of Simply Sewing Magazine last year. It has a mock neck, drawstring waist and two sleeve options- short and long with an elasticized cuff. There is an invisible zipper in the center back bodice and a couple hook and eyes at the collar. I absolutely love the fabric I used. It’s a rayon from Joann’s. The colors are perfect and it’s so soft. I bought it last year but I still noticed a bit at my local Joann’s a few months ago!

Leafling Bag

This dress almost didn’t happen. I started it last fall and was so frustrated that I balled it up and hid it away. I want to start off by saying that it had nothing to do with the sewing pattern. It was just a series of unfortunate mistakes. One of them was with the fabric pattern matching. I was trying to match the bodice to skirt. I cut the plaid upside down on my bodice so while the overall plaid would line up, the orange lines would not. I don’t think it’s very noticeable now that it’s sewn together but at the time I was very frustrated with myself.

Then, while cutting out my sleeves I managed to cut a chunk out of one of the sleeve caps. I picked up a little but more of this fabric soon after but never got around to recutting. I was really excited about this dress when I started it last year so I decided to give this another shot a few months ago. When I pulled out the new piece of fabric to cut- I realized I didn’t have enough to cut a new sleeve with the plaid in the correct direction. I ended up just using the original sleeves I cut. I was able to ease them in and I couldn’t even tell you which sleeve was cut incorrectly now.

I’m so glad I revisited this dress. It’s going to get worn so much now that it’s finished. I think sometimes we just need to step away from things for bit and come back to them when we’re ready.

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Simply Sewing Evelyn Dress

For the last five years, Michael and I have wanted to go to a WWII air show in Reading, PA. Every year we forget about it or have plans. We made sure to finally go this year! I knew I wanted to dress up in 40’s style clothing. Of course I totally forgot about my 1940s overalls I made and a vintage blouse I have. But that’s okay because I sewed an Evelyn dress from Simply Sewing Magazine! Originally I was going to make a romper from a vintage pattern.  It needed to be graded down but the pattern did not have any markings on it, though. I’m sure I could have figured it out but I didn’t have a lot of time and realized I had this pattern.

I used a 1930s reproduction cotton print I bought off the clearance rack at Joann’s. I really love the colors in it. I used buttons from the Simplicity vintage line and wore an old bow belt I had. I quickly made a headband the morning of with a scrap of fabric to put in my hair. I ended up getting my hair done in victory rolls when I got there so I took the scarf off.

This dress was fairly quick to make. I really like the elastic waist because it’s so comfy and didn’t require fitting. I would definitely make this dress again but in something with more drape. Maybe a rayon. I also would consider raising the neckline a little and using the rounded collar option for a different feel.

This is the second Simply Sewing Magazine Pattern I’ve used recently (also made the Eden Set) and I’m so happy. I have my eye on the newest dress in Issue 57. Unfortunately I let my subscription lapse so I’ll be missing out on that issue. I’ll be impatiently checking Barnes and Noble or Joann’s for it! Have you made any patterns from Simply Sewing?

The Eden Set

I know what I’m going to be wearing all summer! I love this dress so much. It’s the Eden Set that came with a Simply Sewing magazine last year. It’s available in their Etsy shop as a PDF if you missed out on it.  There is also a top version and a sleeve tie option with this pattern. This is an easy dress to wear and sew! There’s no darts so fitting was simple and the only closure to sew is a hook and eye at the neck. I was a little worried about getting it on without a zipper but it was totally fine.

The fabric I used is a striped linen from Merchant and Mills. It was definitely a splurge but well worth it in my opinion. Those colors are so perfect! And it’s really comfortable to wear, especially in the heat. I had fun playing around with the direction of the stripes  and really like how it turned out. Do I even need to mention that I love the pockets? So handy for keeping my phone in.

I was in Disneyworld last week and enjoyed wearing this around Magic Kingdom. I also made a floral set of ears to pair with it. I was so proud of myself for wearing me-mades the entire trip! I took photos of nearly every outfit. Maybe I’ll do a round up post of them all.

So happy with this dress. I definitely will be making this pattern again in the future.