Seattle Dress

In general I don’t name my dresses. There always are exceptions, like now. I love buying fabric and yarn on vacation, this fabric was bought in Seattle – hence the name.I’ve had this pattern for quite a while. I had used the skirt portion before but not the whole dress. I was debating which neckline. I like the drawing of the stand-up collar but how will it actually look on the dress? I checked out the reviews on Pattern Review, most people like the pattern and a few even had examples with the stand up collar. They look good.I learned as a child that the backside of the work should looks as clean and as neat as the front. This referred to embroidery, but the same is true with garment sewing. Having a serger makes cleans seams easy. After inserting a sleeve, once I’m sure there are no ripples or tucks – I serge them as well.I served the seams open, the fabric is thick (yes it’s a thicker quilting fabric, I just love the print). Sometimes after pressing the seams open I will serge the seam allowance together. You can even see where I marked the pleats and darts. No, this won’t come out in the wash, I use Wax Tracing Paper from Richard the Thread. If I am sewing with a very fine or sheer fabric I will actually do thread marking.  But I wasn’t worried about the blue showing through to the front, if any did – it would simply blend in with the very busy print pattern.The hem was done on the machine as well. Once again, no one will see the tiny threads on the front of the dress. The amount of hand work I do on a dress really depends on the fabric and pattern.Having a pocket is veery nice on a dress. It has to be a full skirt, I don’t want pockets to mar the look of a tight pencil skirt.  I faced the front with white lining fabric and the back with the fashion fabric. That way the pocket isn’t as heavy, but the visible part, when using the pocket is actually the back.A lapped zipper is a very classy look. One thing is I had to cut the back pattern pieces with 1″ seam allowance rather than 5/8″ which is the standard for home sewing patterns.  Wonderful instructions are available in this Craftsy Mini class (which means it is free!) Mastering Zipper Techniques.I love this dress. The neckline came out perfectly. I love the way the dress looks and of course I’m thrilled with the fabric.  For Southern CA, this is a transition or even winter dress.I have also discovered that these days, I like my skirts to hit mid knee, longer than that is looking dowdy to me right now. Of course that may change in a few years.Looking good from the back as well.