Winter is nearly over (happiness) and I’ve started to make new clothes for my children. For spring clothes I usually make something from knit jerseys, often taking old dresses apart to make new t-shirts or mixing up new and older fabrics.
This dress I made for my teenage daughter from organic cotton jersey.
The dress is a little challenging to make because of the 3 panels front and back, you have to attach them to the right places but other than that it comes together easily. I really like its shape and swing.
If you don’t have a sewing machine you could even stitch it by hand, I often do that, because I like the hand-stitched look. This dress is machine sewn though, I just have too many projects going on at the same time…
Only the little applique is hand-stitched.
The dress pattern is from the book Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns: Custom Fit + Style by Natalie Chanin.
It’ s one of my favourite dressmaking books (and Natalie Chanin one of my favourite fashion designers) with lots of patterns for t-shirts, tank tops, dresses and skirts. The pattern for the dress above is without sleeves, I just added the sleeves from the long-sleeved t-shirt.
All of the patterns from the book are designed for jersey fabrics. It comes with a CD that combines patterns from Natalie’s three previous books plus three new ones.
You can print them out and tape them together or have them printed out at a professional printer which I did. Her other books do have paper patterns if you prefer them.
I bought the organic cotton jersey at Organic Textile Company, a small family run business in the Uk. The fabric is wonderfully soft and chemical-free.
Here is a long-sleeved t-shirt I made for my son using the reverse applique technique, also an interesting way to transform plain jerseys into something special.