Wednesday, January 27, 2016

First 2016 Make - Ashland Fairy Dress

I actually made this dress a few weeks ago now, but I'm only getting around to sharing it now. Here's my first make of 2016 the Ashland Fairy Dress!
I named the dress after two things, firstly the pattern itself which is called "The Ashland Dress" its by and indie sewing pattern company called "Sew Liberated".
You can buy the pattern from the Sew Liberated Website, the above image is also from the website. I also have a couple of their other patterns I want to make up as well, the Clara and Brynna.

This is my first time using a pattern from Sew Liberated and I found it pretty great to work with and easy to understand, it also came with bra cup sizes which was really helpful for fitting the dress.

So where does the "fairy" part of the name come from? The fabric of course!  Because I'm an adult and make adult life choices.
I bought this fabric from Fabric Destash Central on Facebook, which if you are in New Zealand is a great place to pick up fabric on the cheap. I'm trying to not look at this page at all anymore as my New Years Resolution is to not buy any more fabric. It's just too tempting!
As the fabric was pretty cheap, this dress is really a wearable muslin. I am mostly happy with the fit, except for through the shoulders were there is just too much fabric. I will need to work out how to fix that, as I do really want to make this pattern again.
The pattern has a few different variations, I choose to add sleeves because I'm pretty much always cold. I didn't add the cuffs to the sleeves as this is only a wearable muslin but I will add them next time I make the dress.
With this pattern, you can choose to make "real buttons and button holes" or fake it - I chose to fake it with these butterfly buttons I had in my stash. I think I may have gotten them from a WSBN get together at some stage.
I made this dress to wear to Ria's birthday high tea - I didn't really take any photos at the high tea, but it was held at Louis Sergeant and I have blogged about it before here. I'm also going back there this weekend with my friend Emma (but not for high tea) so I will take some more photos then as its a really cute place.
Overall I'm pretty happy with this dress and I will make it again and hopefully nail the fit issues. I will finish off with one more thing though - the most miraculous pattern matching I have ever done, which was a total accident by the way.
Even Rich was impressed by this, if only all pattern matching occurred with zero effort!

12 comments:

JuanitaTortilla said...

Nice touch with the butterfly buttons! :D

Louise said...

That's such a cute dress! Loving the fabric, and I really love your floral crown, too. xx

Natalie Mulford said...

Ohh! This dress is amazing! There really should be more fairy patterned dresses for adults, or adults like me who can't sew! Those buttons are perfect for it too!

Vintage Bird Girl said...

Great frock! I love the neckline and those buttons. Your sewing skills are inspiring! Xx

Kura Carpenter said...

Super cute, and probably a very good idea to fake the buttonholes. From my experience odd shaped buttons are a nightmare to do up and undo :)

Vix said...

Fantastic job! A prefect fit, cool print and the buttons are the icing on the cake. xxx

Curtise said...

Such a pretty fabric, and I love the square neckline and butterfly buttons. The dress I made with that type of neckline was wide on the shoulders too, but I had no idea how to fix it! (No help at all, am I?!) xxx

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

How sweet! You're so clever. The buttons are perfect for it.

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

Sweet! You're so clever. The butterfly buttons are perfect on it.

Caramella said...

You are very talented, that is such a pretty dress!

Kezzie said...

That is amazing, you are v clever! The pattern matching and the. Butterfly buttons are fabulous. I don't know how I missed these posts, I checked and inky saw your holiday post!!!!Xx

Jo said...

Hi, I'm trying to find the Fabric Destash Central page on Facebook but the link above doesn't work. Is it still an active group? Would really appreciate any help to find it. Thanks! Jo (sorry if this has sent multiple times, having trouble posting comment)