Hmmm… I still haven’t got back into the swing of posting regularly which is a shame because I’ve actually got plenty to share at the mo!

Today is Dolly’s turn!

The summer issue of Fibre Mood is always a favourite of mine. They always seem to get the mood and styling just right and I’m frankly impressed that after three years of producing these magazines I’m still finding them interesting!

The two patterns that stood out the most for me in this issue was the Belle blouse (which I’ll blog about next) and the Dolly dress!

The Dolly dress is a raglan puffed sleeve shirt A line dress with a neck tie opening/ closure detail it very much reminded me of the McCall’s 7969 dress that I loved!

The neckline (top of the bodices and sleeves) gathers into a binding to hold it all together. The V slit in the front bodice is finished with a facing within which the two neckties are encased. I’m always a fan of a facing finish instead of bias binding in these areas as you can get such a crisp finish.

It was a pretty straightforward sew. The only area that was a little fiddly for me was getting the binding on the neckline and to be fair, a lot of that was because I decided to hand stitch it down. I spent more time umm-ing and ah-ing over the length than anything! I used a yarn dyed pink gingham fabric of unknown fibre composition (thanks Walthamstow market! 😬) with plenty of drape. It feels like a lightweight poly blend or viscose blend but I can’t say for sure!

I finished the top half of the dress before committing to the length just so I could try it on and check it all. In the end I opted to shorten it even further and add a frilled hem! I used the full width of the fabric (150cm) twice over to get the width for the frill

I did wonder if it would be too much but actual after wearing it for a bit I really loved it!

I made a straight sized M and took off 10cm off the length. Fit wise it’s pretty spot on though I wish I’d make the cuffs a little looser on my arms – I’d forgotten just quite how chunky my arms have gotten! The length as with most patterns was always going to be long on me but this at least, is an easy adjustment to make!

Overall I really enjoyed making this dress! Whether that’s the fabric or pattern choice I can’t say for sure but I love how it turned out. It’s a little bit nuts and over the top but after the crazy of the last 18 months, I think that’s just what I need!