Spring sewing challenge: the acorn dress

As I wrote a little while ago, I’m embarking on a sewing challenge to make myself a little capsule wardrobe for the warmer months. I wanted to create something, and if that something could be a tailored, beautiful and comfortable set of clothes, all the better!

Over the long weekend, I powered ahead with my first make, which I’m calling the acorn dress. I’m going with this title because the fabric is a lovely acorn brown, but otherwise it has no affinity with an acorn. There was a bit of delay in finishing it, as I couldn’t find a belt buckle I liked, but I wrapped it all up over the weekend. Wearing it to church on Sunday evening was great fun.

But let’s get into the process, shall we?

Take your time with fitting and toiles/muslins

I’ve never made a toile before, although I had good intentions to on a number of occasions. I just hate spending money on fabric for something that is not intended to be worn. However, after making one for this project, I can see that they’re absolute lifesavers.

I bought very cheap pop top fabric and hand-basted the whole dress together in my practice run. This was particularly helpful because I had to completely re-size the entire garment. Retro patterns are so tiny! I also wanted to make it a bit shorter, as the original garment was a very long midi, which I felt was a bit unbalanced for my figure, and perhaps made the dress a little dated.

Resizing caused a few headaches, as I had to work out how to extend and expand the hips, waist and sleeves. I actually went too large in my toile everywhere except the sleeves, so I was able to adjust for the real deal. Definitely take your time with fitting. It makes the end product worlds better. Even so, I still think I could have made more adjustments for a better fit. I have a slight sway back, so there’s a bit of folding at the back. I did notice this in my toile, but chickened out of making further pattern adjustments. Regretting that a little now, but the fold is small enough not to bother me too much.

What would I do differently?

In my googling for my next garment, I came across the idea of block interfacing. This is where you iron your uncut fabric onto the interfacing and then cut out the pattern pieces. This means that your pieces which need the structure will have perfect edges and you don’t have to worry about things shifting as you iron them on.

The collar and front edge of this dress did need interfacing, and it would have been much easier to use the block method. Will definitely be doing this in future for similar interfacing needs!

I also used French seams throughout this garment for a stronger and smoother interior finish. I am really glad I did this, as the finish is stunning. However, given this pattern used grown-on sleeve (AKA the sleeve is cut out as one with the bodice pieces), the French seam backfired a bit for me on the underarm curve. It just wasn’t as tight a finish, so I have some minor puckering. Something to remember for next time.

The side zipper on this dress was a total nightmare. I hate zippers generally, and I really struggled with this one. I think being on the side made it harder, as it had to sit flat but also curve over my hip when worn. I forgot to stay-stitch the sides where the zip would go, so it stretched out a bit. This made it impossible to sew the zip without some puckering (made worse by the fact that I had to do it four times). Next time I will be stay-stitching the sides, but will also baste in the zip first before I bring in the machine. That way I will hopefully get a clean finish the first time around. Honestly, I’d rather do buttonholes forever than put in a zip!

The sewing costs

One of the things I wanted to track with this challenge was the cost of each project. Making clothes can get expensive, but I want to see if this can be competitive with buying high quality clothing. Here’s the breakdown of the costs for this dress (all prices in Australian dollars).

• Fabric for the toile: $6.30
• Fabric for the dress itself (main and contrasting for collar): $53.41
• Belt interfacing: $4.50 (used half a $9 packet)
• Thread: $5.00 (used half of my $10 worth)
• Pattern: $6.60 (bought in a 3 for $20 sale at Spotlight)
• Zip: $2.50
• Buttons: $5.50
• Belt buckle: $15

Total cost came to: $105.31

I already had interfacing from previous projects, so did not buy new. I got enough pop top for two project toiles, so that cost is halved here.

I feel that $105 for a 100% linen, bespoke tailored dress and belt is pretty good. Getting something in an all natural fabric from somewhere like Boden would set me back closer to $200. It’s not necessarily massively cheaper, but it’s quite competitive. Obviously I’m not counting the cost of the hours I spent on it, as it’s fun for me.

I have some fabric left over from both the dress and the collar, which I plan to use in some of my other projects. One of my tops is going to get a petal-like collar, which I think would look sweet in the same white linen slub.

I enjoyed taking my time with this dress and really putting in the effort for precision in a way that I haven’t on previous projects. Unsurprisingly, the result was a strongly constructed dress that fits me quite well and I really enjoy wearing. I can’t wait to see how I go with my next project.

Are you sewing anything? Let me know in the comments!