Sew over it ultimate cowl neck dress OR 'When is floral fabric too floral'..........

    So this weekend I had planned to sew a spring version of New Look 6148 in this art gallery fabric that I got on sale from Dragonfly Fabrics:

 But on Thursday I was checking my instagram feed and I saw that Sew over it had released a new dress pattern - The cowl neck dress/top

 So there ensued an inner dialogue that went something like this:

Voice A: ohhhhhh that is so pretty and feminine - you should buy it.

Voice B: The reason why this looks so good is that Lisa from Sew over it is gorgeous as well as skinny - this would look awful on you - this is not the kind of thing that you ever wear....

Voice A: Well perhaps if you made sure it was a bit more loose fitting on you, you wouldn't feel so self conscious and might actually enjoy wearing it, it is good to try new things - plus it is on offer at the moment......

  I am of course assuming that everyone has these inner dialogues and I am not coming across as a total loony! Anyway voice A won so I ordered and downloaded the pattern. It just so happened that the next day Mr Sewingsu and I both had planned a day off work and I suggested that rather than clearing out the garage we travel to Chichester for lunch (I rather hoped that we might manage to pop into a few shops too) - I had heard that C and H fabrics had a good range of fabrics and thought I might find a suitable jersey for this dress. There were lots of wonderful fabrics but the Jersey choice was not huge. I found a lovely black cotton jersey - a very slimming colour, goes with everything but not very summery and just a bit boring really! I also found a blue floral viscose jersey but it looked like it was already bobbling on the roll. Then I saw this fabric (65% viscose, 35% cotton) - nice and summery and floral's do seem to be 'in' at the moment, but was this just too floral? (I seem to remember my parents having a sofa with a similar pattern on it when I was a child). I decided to take a risk and bought 2 meters.

  The pattern was easy to print off and put together, and the instructions were clear, I was reminded however how much I hate laying out and cutting Jersey fabric! I cut a 14 on top and graded out (get me with the sewing terminology!!) to a 16 at the hip and took it up 4cm at the hem. I also decided to make a short sleeved version ready for spring/summer! I managed to get my over locker working (only with three threads but hey - at least it was working). I was eager to try my new twin needle but realized that it was for woven fabrics (despite assurances from the guy in the shop that I bought it from!) so I ended up straight stitching my hems which will be OK for the bottom hem and neckline but I may have to re-do the sleeves at some point. My tiny brain just can't seem to cope with pattern matching, so all I managed to do was make sure the pattern was centered on the front, back, and sleeve pieces.

  My littlest little one is reading 'The enormous turnip' story at school and as part of his homework we had to reenact the story so I thought I would use the opportunity to take some dress photos in the garden - I have no idea why I am leaning so heavily on the fork - I must have been feeling exhausted!!

I wonder if a mustard cardi would look good with this dress and weather I have enough of an excuse to buy one!

I think it looks OK with leggings but is also long enough to be worn without them in the warmer months.

  I am pleased with the fit and don't feel too self conscious in it - so verdicts on the floral fabric - is it too much? do I look like I'm wearing curtains?

  I can see me making a long sleeved grey version for next winter, a sleeveless black version paired with a sparkly belt for evenings out (because I have so many evenings out to attend - ha ha!), and perhaps another short sleeved one in something a bit more casual - stripes perhaps? OK so I probably won't be making one for evenings out, but if I ever find time I would like to make another version(s) of this dress.

  I couldn't resist adding an 'enormous turnip' shot.......

  Thanks for stopping by!

                         Su xx

Spring is just around the corner - Yay!!