Tilly and the Buttons released book Stretch last spring. Few months later and there it was on my shelf. Few more months and I have two Freya dresses in my closet.
There are few more designs in the book but this one was a great start to use up some fabrics from my stash.
The first one I made from this lightweight jersey I got on eBay year ago or maybe more. It feels so good to use a fabric that you have been looking at for too long. I got it without a project in mind and as it was so lightweight I never knew what would be the right pattern for it. It was time to take a bit of a risk and hope it would live a happy life as a Freya. And it does.
The push I needed to do it was a great challenge run by Chantelle @i_seam_sew_happy_xx and Lou @oh_liverpool_lou over on Instagram called #stitchedwithatwist. The idea behind it was to use any pattern and hack it in any way that rocks your boat – embroidery, adding details, changing pattern design a bit….. As this jersey is so lightweight, I thought it would work great for bigger dreamy sleeves and coincidentally lovely Athina Kakou released a hack on how to make bishop sleeves for a regular sleeve over on her blog. I loved it, so I knew I wanted to try it out. If you like it as well go over on her blog. She has many other hacks available as well and if you are still looking for a great jersey pattern she has one with great reviews – the Sheona dress/top so do check it out.
Another hack I made was to lengthen the dress to midi. I am very inspired by long autumnal dresses and wanted that feel of someone so cool as Florence form the Florence and the Machine. I mean that is as cool as one can get in my book. I lengthened the dress at lengthen or shorten line that is part of the pattern (not from the hem). I did not want it to be too wide at the bottom so this seemed to be the right way.
The second dress is this ultimate lemon dress for dark winter days. It is the vitamin C for your sight. I got this Art Gallery fabric from Minerva crafts last year and it is the softest. I have not hacked this one for the challenge but I did make some alterations to the pattern as well. I also lengthened the hem on this one but this time to the knee level. I did it the same way as with the first version. But I had a problem with access fabric in the lower back which cried for a sway back adjustment. So I tried that one out and I guess it helped but there is still some extra fabric. Not sure why and if maybe I need to make a bigger adjustment but I was not frugal with it at all. This does mean I now have a seam running down my spine in the centre back but as the fabric is a happy one with random print I do not mind it that much (and it is in the back anyway).
New project from the book will probably be a Joni dress but I do need to find a great fabric for it to make the picture in my head a reality.
Until then…..
Thank you for reading!
Ana
