Seamworks Mesa on a chilly day…

The original…

The outfit to the left has spawned four clothing pieces… so far…. it comes from episode 1 of Scream the Tv series…. (yep I’m a teenager at heart!) and I just fell in love with this skirt. Totally different from anything I’ve ever worn, let alone made, but I drooled over it. And it refused to leave my mind. The website wornontv.com informs me that this skirt comes from Topshop (can’t find it of course). But I was never going to buy it was I…

Soon after this episode, Kat, fellow Wellington sewing blogger, asked if anyone wanted to pitch in for a purchase from Fabric.com? Spoiler alert – between the group we brought A LOT of fabric.

I got this one… to make a Seamworks Mesa out of… (more of this fabric soon)

And this Scuba knit to make my Scream tribal skirt.. (now sold out)

When the fabric arrived however the tribal print was much bigger than I expected. How big?

Hmmm… And I had more fabric than I needed to make a skirt. And as a result I just caved and made a Mesa out of it… wearable muslin yes?

I’ve subscribed to Seamworks since it started. Some months are great and others are a but of a miss for me, but the Mesa I like – simple cut and knit so therefore easy right?

Confession I’ve never actually made a shift dress before. I don’t actually think I’ve ever worn one. So here we have a) a new style and b) a patterned fabric and c) fabric like nothing in my wardrobe. I guess I was feeling courageous!

I was hoping to share my fantastic pattern matching with this make. I marked the pattern pieces with the stripes and when I basted it together I got perfect lines all around my body. When I pinned and stitched however it was a fail. And as this is a thick scuba knit unpicking proved un-achievable. I did try, honest, but after stabbing myself, deeply, with my trusty quick unpick/seam ripper I gave it up as a lost cause.

Other than the line matching fail, this dress went together really easily. I added 5″ to the length before cutting out, but after trying the finished garment on it looked frumpy at that length so I took 3″ off. Now of course it’s a smidgen short but it works well with tights! And given the fabric is polyester its more of a cooler wear really.

I like this dress. It’s way out of my comfort zone, and I get lots of comments on it whenever I’ve worn it. The only issue I have is the neckline. It looks fine, if a little bit wide, with nothing on top, but add a jacket or cardigan and it’s too big and gapes a bit

Not impressed….

Gape gape gape…

I’ve had this on a couple of makes lately. I’m not sure if I need to cut smaller at the neckline, or I could be stretching the neck band too much,but its also happened on woven fabrics. Others have talked about the neckline being a smidge too big so maybe its not me. Next time I make this one I will add 1″ to each shoulder and see what that does!

But I do really like this dress. I love the pattern – not so sure with the scuba knit, I noticed a slight pilling across the front today which is annoying. Maybe it doesn’t like flying foxes?

Add a jacket and its great for work. Here’s to more work dresses in the future…

So the fabric I brought for the skirt off the tv? I made a dress. Pretty good compromise I think.

Have a great week all!