Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

A red Shelby with a sleeve hack // True Bias

I feel like I’ve been really good at reusing patterns this year. I often find I’m so into the “next new thing” I forget about patterns that I like! (My exceptions to this are the Fibre Mood Mira and the By Hand London Hannah, both of which sit in the forefront of my mind far too much! 😂)

Today’s make is another True Bias Shelby dress. I made my first one in February (it was a last minute Valentine’s Day make!) and loved the cut on me – it was my 90s dream dress! I knew I’d want to do another one!

As much as I loved my first iteration I knew I wanted to make some changes to my next one, namely the sleeve and the neckline which I felt as a bit boring. That may be a harsh term for what I felt, I just knew I wanted it to be different!

So for this version, inspired by the By Hand London Jenna, I split the sleeve down the centre and added a seam allowance. I used the same tie pattern piece from the Jenna dress. (I could’ve used the full Jenna sleeve pattern but I couldn’t be bothered to mess with armscyes and all that!). I also lowered the neckline by a couple of centimetres.

The fabric is a viscose crepe from Sew Me Sunshine which I got in a recent lockdown haul – my orders from Harriet always seem to arrive so quickly. I’m always super impressed!

This is actually the same fabric as I used here for my second Viki dress. I loved the black and white colourway so much I knew I’d love the red too! It’s an excellent weight for swishy dresses and opaque too so no need for lining.

My only problem with this red dress is that I accidentally placed my top buttonhole about half a centimetre too far from the edge and it’s making the front edge roll back on itself. Not the worst problem in the world but it does annoy me.

I’ve taken to wrapping the ties (which are sewn between the centre and side back panels) fully around my waist and tying them at the front. I think it helps accentuate my narrowest part which is always a good thing!

This dress has already had its first outing on a socially distant picnic with the family last weekend!

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1 Comment

  1. This is an amazing dress! I love the fabric! 😍😍😍 And the hacks that you made are to die for! Now I’m off to get the pattern. Great review!

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