The story of my Fens (Fen dress and top - Fancy Tiger Crafts)

  I wanted to make a Spring/Autumn dress and first bought Megan Nielsen's Darling Ranges dress pattern when she last had a sale. However I read some reviews stating that the fit wasn't great for larger ladies. So I bought Deer and Doe's Sureau and was very excited about making it. Sadly when I finally got round to starting it I was above the size range.  I had seen a few rather nice Fen dresses from Fancy Tiger Crafts on the blogosphere and as you can make tops with it too I decided to go for it and bought a paper pattern (as you can't buy the PDF in Europe).

  I decided to go for the top first, it has no shaping whatsoever so I was wondering how it would look on me - I rather like how it turned out! I don't like 'v' necks so went for the round neck option and I can't seem to get my head round hemming sharp curves so went for the hi-low hem rather than the shirt option. I used a gorgeous soft cotton lawn with little owls on it that I had in my stash.

It is a lovely fabric but does crease rather a lot!

I had some issues with the neckline not wanting to lie flat - I think it is because I hate making bias binding so used pre-made bias tabe which is rather stiff - I am hoping that a few washes will sort it out.

I really love the hem line.

 Anyway - top done so I went for the dress. I used this really lovely leaf print cotton from Ditto fabrics that I bought with my Christmas vouchers.

  It was an easy pattern to make up - I didn't really follow the instructions, to be honest they looked a little overly complicated so I just followed the stages but did it the way I thought worked best. It took me just over a week doing a little at a time between work and children.

Excuse the blindingly white legs - first outing this year!

I made the hi low hem again and love it! Obviously I love the pockets too!!

I like it with a belt and may make some belt loops to hold a belt in place.

It is a very loose fitting pattern so if you like a closer fit I would go down a size.

Love it with a cardi and leggings too (excuse my odd shoulders - I didn't sort the sleeves out under the cardi so they have bunched up and made my shoulders look even bigger than they are in real life)!!

It has both front and back bodice darts that come up from the waist - I hadn't made a pattern with darts like these before so it was interesting to try something new!

I have no idea what I am looking at in this photo!!

  There is a 3/4 length sleeve option too and I can see how making it up in different fabrics will create dresses for all the seasons. I can confirm that it is comfortable to wear! I will be making more of these and more tops too (they are perfect for work).

   Thanks for stopping by!

               Su xx