Friday, July 1, 2016

Soccer Mom Dress: Lisette Traveller

Helloooo! Gosh, I really have been a slack blogger this year. I haven't really been doing a lot of sewing anyway. But now that the winter months are here (if you can call 24 degrees celcius 'winter' [ok, the days start off a lot colder than that, but end up in the 20s in the middle of the day]) and this is the time of year when I usually make something a bit different to what I normally would wear.

In winter, my work wardrobe doesn't really change- I'm a dress girl and just add tights and scarf (and leather jacket or vintage woollen coat if it's really cold). But on the weekends I live in either jeans and some kind of top, or leggings with a tunic-length top. I've noticed that tunic length chambray or denim shirts are quite popular, so thought I'd make myself one- even though it's the kind of item that screams 'soccer mom' to me, and I'm so not a soccer mom.




Spotlight had 30% off their denims about a month ago so I picked up two metres of this at $11/m 
(I bought extra so I could make a skirt or something for Lizzie). I already and a pattern in my stash- this one by Lisette for Simplicity, which is known as the Traveller Dress.

I've already made View A but need to remake it in some cuter fabric and with some alterations. I made View B, but with the collar instead of a silly little neckband thing pictured on that view. Since I already knew that the size 8 would fit, I just went straight ahead and cut out an 8.




This was a pretty straightforward sew. I took my time over the course of a week. I made the pockets using the wrong side of the denim to give some contrast. The denim is quite thin and was really nice to sew.




I did a couple of really stupid things. Firstly, I cut the front pieces right on the selvage, thinking that the button plackets would cover the silly little holes near the selvage. As you can see in the above picture, the holes are clearly visible. I also didn't follow the directions for hemming the dress/shirt/tunic/whatever (I overlocked it then turned it once, instead of turning it up twice) which made the button placket shorter than the hem. Not a huge disaster. 

Also, when I wear it, the bottom two buttons don't sit right. It's pulling across my hips so I probably should have decreased my seam allowance down there.




I *think* I like it...my husband says I look like a nurse from the 1970s, but what would he know? I think it needs some really bright leggings to make me feel not so much like a soccer mom. Stay tuned, they are coming!