This lovely dress is the new pattern from Cashmerette, the Ellington Dress. Like all Cashmerette patterns, it’s designed for figures blessed with a C cup or more in the chest which for a strapless dress is a feat. This dress features boning to provide support, but it’s also just a lovely shaped bodice that hugs the body beautifully. I believe they also designed it to show off their Symmes strapless bra. I started making the bra to wear with this dress, but unfortunately didn’t finish in time. Once I get it done, I’ll report back though!

The dress features 3 options for detachable sleeves and can be mixed with a variety of skirts from other Cashmerette patterns. I chose the draped sleeves and the skirt which comes with the pattern because the combination of the two immediately had me thinking of a romantic heroine. And I’m pretty happy with the result. In these pictures, I feel like I’ve stepped out of a romance novel!

I made a size 2 C/D in the bodice and waist, graded out to a size 6 at the hips. For reference, I measure at a size 4 C/D at the bust, size 6 at the waist, and size 8 at the hips according to Cashmerette’s size chart. However, looking at the final measurements of the garment and knowing that I prefer my garments to fit a bit snugger, I opted to size down. I always recommend looking at the final measurements, especially if you already know how much ease you like in your garments.

Beyond the grading, the only other size adjustment I made was to shorten the skirt by about 4 inches above the slit, and then an additional 2.5 to 4 inches around the hem. Basically 2.5 inches at the front graded out to 4 inches at the back. Again, for reference, I’m 5’3″ and did not plan to wear heels with this. Taking off 4-5 inches is pretty common for me. I expect the extra was because this is intended for formal wear and heels.

Doing the shortening on the asymmetrical skirt was challenging because the shortening doesn’t reflect the same on both sides, so I ended up having to double check my side notches and lengths to make sure everything matched up. If I had to do it again, I would have just graded normally from a 2 to a 6, taken all the length off the bottom and then raised the top of the slit. That would have been much simpler and no doubt everything would have matched up much more easily.

Per usual, I like to make a dress my own which I did by adding a faux corset back to this one. I used the included instructions for moving the invisible zipper to the side and then cut the back pieces on the fold, for both the bodice and the skirt. The bodice to do the faux corset and the back just so they would match.

I cut bias strips at 1.5″ wide and sewed them right sides together with a 3/8″ seam allowance. I trimmed the seam allowance down and then I turned them right sides out using a Fasturn Tube Turner. For the side loops, I did two short tubes. For the lacing, I did one very long tube and I had to really cram it down on the tube turner. It was almost too long, but I managed to make it work. I also threaded through some cording in the short ones for the sides just so that they would have a little bit more heft and not collapse once they were laced up.

For the sides, I cut the loops 2″ long each. Then I used a buttonhole spacer to evenly place the loops within the top and bottom seam allowances. (Note, there are cheaper spacers, but that’s the one I bought about 7 years ago.) I basted the loops down and sewed the side seams. After pressing the seams away from the back so they naturally followed the direction of the loops, I sewed an additional top stitch 1/8″ from the seam line to add strength although there shouldn’t actually be any tension on it due to the lacing in this particular case.

The rest of construction proceeded according to the directions.

I made this dress out of a lovely designer deadstock linen rayon blend from Califabrics. I promise I pressed it before these photos, but as you probably know, anything with linen pretty much wrinkles when you look at it. It’s part of the natural beauty of it. And to be honest, I think it does add a bit of that lived-in country charm in this case.

The lining is the lightest cotton lawn from Needles Studio. It’s so light that I actually doubled it up for the lining to ensure it would be strong enough for the boning. But the lightness was perfect for keeping the airy feel of the skirt where I kept it at one layer.

One of my favorite parts of this dress is the clean finish of the lining. The way they have you attach the skirt and the lining means no handsewing to tack down the bodice lining or finish off the zipper! I pretty much avoid handsewing whenever I can so this was a gift and definitely a technique that I may try to use with other patterns, even if it doesn’t call for it.

Admittedly, I did have to hand sew the snaps for the shoulder straps. The pattern calls for buttonholes, but there was no way my sewing machine was going to be able to stitch a buttonhole cleanly through the layers of the binding on the edge of the straps and I wasn’t about to try manually doing it by machine and I certainly wasn’t going to handsew buttonholes. So I went with snaps which in general I find easier to put on when I’m alone anyways.

And now I’m off on my next adventure!

     

Throwing these two together because they do make a cute lounge set. However, I actually made each piece separately. I made them both from some lovely light french terry that I won in a raffle years ago from Amelia Lane Designs. I got to pick 3 yards of anything I wanted and this was my favorite. I still have about a yard left so we’ll see what I do with it! But I’ve worn these pants a ton and they’ve likewise been through the wash many many times and are still quite soft.

The top is the Greenstyle Pacific Pullover. This was a muslin for the Snowth furry vest which I mentioned in the post about that. This was the fit tester and made according to the instructions with inseam pockets, hood, and with the addition of the zipper down the front, but that also used Greenstyle’s own instructions. I believe that I did do my normal waist shortening as well. Obviously I liked both the fit and the pattern enough to move forward with the running costume. Since this isn’t super thick french terry, it’s lovely to toss on for a walk with the dogs when I just want some light sun protection.

No, I still haven’t bothered to insert a drawstring into the hood, and yes, I still need to trim some threads — but not sure if I ever will because I have no motivation to do so since I only ever wear this for me and my dogs.

The pants are the Pattern Emporium Foxy Legs Joggers which I have also talked about before. These were the same size as the previous ones — size 12 which is what I measure at for that pattern. Same pockets, but edged them differently with self-fabric instead of foldover elastic. And, of course, longer. When I made the previous ones, I just folded over the pattern piece at the short length since I thought I might want to make the longer length eventually. Since I’d made these before, they were super fast. This is definitely one of my favorite patterns.

And then here’s a view of the back. Mostly for completion’s sake, but it does show the way the hood is finished inside in the basic version — just serged down the middle seam with a facing around the edge to contain the drawstring — and it shows the back seam of the arm since the long sleeve version of the pacific pullover actually has 2-piece tailored sleeves. Great for color blocking if you’re feeling that way.

     

As mentioned in my last post, I had enough of the fabric leftover from my Maria dress to make a matching tote. I even had enough to do pattern matching of the roses around the top! This is the Hattie Tote pattern, also from Charm Patterns. I did decide to buy some coordinating fabric for the inside although I had enough fabric that I’m sure I could have made it work, but I think it looks better with a solid lining. The bamboo handles I picked up on Amazon.

The pattern itself is rather straight forward, although attaching the handles was pretty challenging. You’ll definitely be manipulating your bag carefully around your machine. I recommend using a zipper foot so that you have more clearance.

For stabilizing the bag itself, the pattern calls for decovil interfacing. I didn’t feel that it was heavy enough, gave it enough body, so I did 2 layers. I don’t know if I got an old batch of decovil or what, but I had a real hard time getting that stuff to fuse to the fabric. If I were to do this again, I’d use soft & stable to stabilize the outside and SF101 for the inside, following the techniques of Sew Sweetness. Based on the many bags I’ve made from Sew Sweetness patterns, that gives a much smoother outside and is stiffer/has more body.

And if my inner pocket looks surprisingly tiny, that’s because I accidentally sewed it the wrong direction. It should have been wide and not too long, but mine is narrow and long. Oops. It still does what I need it to.

I liked having the matching tote from the start, but I was otherwise on the fence about the bag after I initially made it. However, I’ve actually used it several times already. It’s quite spacious so I can toss all the things into it and not worry. Especially helpful for costume events when I want a bag that doesn’t look too modern. The only thing is that the handles can be a bit uncomfortable if I’m holding it for long periods of time so next time I make this, I may put in fabric handles just to make it a bit more comfortable to carry (despite the fact that it will make it less historically representative).

     

This is the Charm Patterns Maria dress which is a princess seam dress that makes a great base for many styles. The lines are clean. It’s straightforward and nice for a beginner to learn princess seams, but a satisfying sew for a more experienced sewist.

So why do I also call it the Friendship Dress? This pattern was under development and about to be released when I attended my first Charm Patterns retreat in 2023. We got a sneak peak of it, and Gertie wore a sample in a lovely floral print by Anna Maria called Social Climber from her Love Always print line (you can see it in pink in the Maria Dress tutorial video). We were all so excited about this pattern, that most of us at the retreat decided to buy the same print in different colorways and make matching ones, dubbing it a symbol of our new found friendship. At this point, I think maybe half of us have gotten to it? I actually made mine pretty soon after it was released, but I’m only just now getting around to posting (as is usual for me :P).

I didn’t love any of the colorways. In fact, I really liked one of the colorways from the previous print of this fabric that was purple and teal, but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found on the internet. So I decided to make it myself by overdyeing.

Overdyeing is when you dye a fabric that already has some color in it, whether it’s a pre-dyed piece of fabric or a print like this one. I bought the Lichen colorway which was something of a gray background with green-teal flowers on it. Then I picked up some purple RIT dye and followed the directions.

Overall, it turned out pretty well! There were definitely some places where the dye took better than others despite frequent stirring and some spots where it clearly must have gotten folded on itself or something leaving light spots. I had bought extra yardage just in case since I knew I’d be doing pattern placement with the flowers so I was able to get enough fabric that was relatively close in hue. I actually found that I liked the more homogenous light variation from the dye and layered over the gray background, it resulted in a sort of weathered, antique look. But in general, I really liked the final result with the new dusty purple background and was so glad I decided to a) try a new skill of overdyeing and b) follow my instinct for what I wanted.

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If you’d like to watch a video of the overdyeing process, you can check out the reel I posted on Instagram.

Also, I found I was able to use some of the more splotchy parts for the unseen parts like the pocket bags and the facings. I didn’t need to worry about pattern placement for those so I could just squeeze them in wherever I could find space on the fabric.

With respect to the dress itself, I made a size 4 at the shoulders/bust, graded to a 6 at the waist and hips with the bodice shortened 3/4″ below the bust and a 3/8″ swayback adjustment. This is my standard adjustment for Charm Patterns so no surprise there. I made a muslin just in case (look at those fabulous colors), mostly because I wanted to test the arms. I was fairly certain the rest would work and it did.

I tried a muslin of the 3/4 sleeve (forgot to take a photo), but I just felt so constricted in it while at the same time it felt frumpy since there was enough ease that I could move a bit. I was debating going sleeveless (the dress is quite cute sleeveless and I will be making a version like that), but then figured I might as well try the short sleeve and I really liked both the feel and look of it. Although I will admit, even the short sleeves are a little more restrictive than I generally like, but it’s cute so I deal with it and just don’t wear it to events where I need to be waving my hands in the air.

Cutting the actual bodice pieces was a bit tedious because I was being particular about the pattern placement. But it paid off. The roses go nicely across my chest and I was able to use all pieces that were essentially the same hue for the background. But it did require cutting out the middle and then each pair of pieces out to the back center to ensure the pattern stayed consistently placed.

I don’t know that there’s a lot to say about the construction of the dress otherwise. The instructions are good and clear. It is the usual high quality I expect from Charm Patterns. There is a tutorial video. It’s solid.

Above is an image of basting the pleats down by machine. The pleated nature of the skirt gives nice body but without bulk at the waist and still allows for the use of fabric with an obvious directional print (like rows of roses).

The only place I deviated slightly from the pattern was the zipper. Like most Charm Patterns, the instructions suggest using a lapped zipper. They’re nice. At this point they’re easy. But I still really love the clean look of an invisible zipper. So that’s what I did. And look how nice it meets up at the waist seam. Quite happy with that installation. An invisible zipper foot really makes these a cake walk which for something so professional looking feels like cheating. But I’ll take it.

For the belt buckle, I was originally going to with a lucite one I had picked up in NYC after the retreat, but then I found this antique brass and I felt it really just went better with the weathered, antique look I mentioned before. The picture above also shows the Charm Patterns Hattie Tote. That’ll be the next post.

And here’s a shot from the back. It was actually quite windy at the winery where were taking the photos. But it poofed my skirt out and made for some nice images so I’m not mad.

Overall, so pleased with how the dress came out in terms of fit and color. It seems like the perfect dress to wear out to tea, romantically vintage. And because of the overdyeing, I know that I truly have a one-of-a-kind piece.

I ended up having so much extra fabric that I was able to make a matching Hattie Bag (mentioned above). There’s actually still quite a bit left and I was so happy with how the final print turned out that I’m saving it to hopefully make a scrappy quilt with it. We’ll see. Gotta find the time.

     

And here is the second version of The Works Tank by Pattern Emporium that I promised you in yesterday’s post. And honestly this is my favorite of the two.

This one is a size 8 at the bust graded to a size 12 at the hips. I measure a 10 at the hips, but I misread the sizing and accidentally graded to a 12. However, I actually love the fit. Happy accidents. This version is the one that will be in my TNT pattern pile.

It’s got a nice flow to it. It’s comfortable. This is again the longer length and lower neckline. But I would definitely consider making this in a nice dark bamboo knit with one of the higher necklines for work. It would be perfect for during the summer and is actually really similar in fit to an Athleta tank I have except that I don’t have to wear a special bra with this one. This low neckline is totally fine to wear to my work as it’s not showing any cleavage or anything, but I feel like the higher neckline would give a more professional look.

The fabric here is a double brushed poly (DBP) from Califabrics. I originally bought it for a dress (which is done and that I will show as soon as I get photos) and used the leftovers to make this. Again, it takes less than a yard so it’s the perfect tank when you find that awesome fabric, but they only have a yard left! I was trying to find a thicker DBP and went based on their listing of the GSM, but it’s still a little thinner than I wanted. It still worked well for the dress and this tank, but I know now that I need to look for an even higher GSM than I originally thought.

Anyhow, here it is. I love it. I’m excited to have more once I get my hands on some nice tencel or bamboo.