My Valentine’s Day Dress with A and R Fabrics
This has taken me a long time to put up onto my own site but I wanted to make sure I documented the amazing opportunity I had to feature on the A and R blog. I was given this gorgeous magenta linen from Trin and I was so excited to make my ultimate Valentine’s Day dream dress. For all the details and process head on over to https://www.aandrfabrics.com/blogs/a-r_makes. For the short version continue reading below.
What are the features I wanted my dress to have?
A square neckline
A ruffle around the neckline
Waist ties to cinch the waist
Two voluminous tiers for the skirt
Last, but not least, puffy sleeves finished with a cuff
What did I do to achieve the look?
I used Butterick 6518 for the bodice and the wilder gown for the skirt with a few adjustments. For the bodice I used version D. I omitted the ruffle of the sleeve and used the slash and spread method to make the sleeve extra puffy. I added 10 inches overall, along with an extra 2 inches in length.
Next I moved the notch for the back opening up on the back bodice because I don’t love how low those go sometimes. I eyeballed this based on my other dresses, but if I have to guess I would say I moved it up by an inch. I also added a rouleau loop to the back because I enjoy that look more so that creating the loop with thread at the end. I placed that in before I sewed the yoke in place.
For my ruffle I ended up folding in the raw edges where the ruffle pieces attach, for a clean finish. For the bottom edge I followed the instructions but please note, you need to do a mitred corner to keep it crisp. Lastly, I cut my bodice on the lengthen/shorten line on the pattern. The last addition to the bodice was the waist ties. I used the ties from my Hinterland pattern from Sew Liberated and added them in 1” above my raw hem.
For the sleeves I followed the instructions to insert them in. The only change was adding a cuff to the sleeve hem. For this I used my cuff from the Roscoe dress from True Bias. I made the size 10 in that dress for reference.
Moving onto the skirt. I took the wildergown and used that for my two tiers. I wanted to add fullness, so rather than cutting the pattern pieces as is, I cut the width of my fabric for each piece but kept the length the same as the pattern piece. For the hem, I folded over the edge at about ½ inch and then folded it over again the same amount and ironed it down. Took it to the machine, and sewed it down.
I absolutely adore this dress and I’m so happy that Trin trusted my vision. This is one of my go to dresses and because it’s made of linen it’s so comfortable and breathable. I can’t wait to make another but what colour is the question still on my lips.
