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!

The Monthly Stitch: Miss Bossy Patterns

One of my "things to do in 2014" was to undertake at least six monthly stitch challenges. I'm not sure if I've blogged much about it before, but the monthly stitch is a collective organised by three of my Wellington Sewing Blogger Network friends - Kat, Mel and Juliet. The collective is an ongoing sew-a-long with a new challenge each month and the challenge for March is Miss Bossy Patterns.

The theme does seem a little confusing to start with - but let me explain more! Miss Bossy Patterns is about making a pattern from your pattern stash which is brand new (to you at least, it can be vintage or second hand) but you have never made. Sounds easy right?

This is where the "Bossy" part comes in - you have to ask your blog readers to chose which pattern to make (by giving them a choice of three patterns). So have a look and let me know which you would like to see me stitch up during the month of March.

Pattern One - Sew Liberated - The Ashland Dress

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I bought this pattern long ago, before I thought I had the skills to make this dress. It was kind of a pattern to "work towards". I am pretty confident I can now make it, but I just haven't "gotten around to it yet". 

I really love this dress - it looks really comfortable and I love the neckline and there are some great versions of this dress around the internet. I love this grey version worn with a shirt underneath (it changes the look of the dress altogether) and these two versions made by Meg McElwee who is the designer of Sew Liberated Patterns. I just think the styling of her patterns is so beautiful. I also would love to make the Brynna Dress, School House Tunic, Sunday Picnic Blouse and strangely enough the Bohemian Carpet Bag (I know - me wanting to make non clothing items!).

So if you'd like to see me sewing up my own version of the Ashland Dress (does anyone else say Aslan in their head? Like as in from Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe? No? Just me?) then just let me know in the comments below!

Pattern Two -Made by Rae - Washi Dress

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I have seen about a million versions of the washi dress and ALL of them look amazing - look here, here and here for a few versions of the dress. The designer Rae (obviously that's her name, give the name of the pattern company!) has even created a washi expansion pack so you can add a bow, sleeves or peter pan collar to your dress. I know, loads of you are like "but I can make those alterations myself" yeah I could more than likely too if I tried, but I'd just rather have someone else do it for me and spend more time sewing and less time mucking about trying to draft pattern pieces.

I bought this pattern not only because I thought it was adorable, but also because the designer Rae seems like a really nice person (is that a weird reason - I mean if the pattern wasn't my thing I wouldn't buy it, but the fact she is nice makes me want to give her my money more). I've followed her blog Made by Rae FOREVER and I also love her Ruby Dress pattern - but I HATE sticking PDF patterns together, so I will wait until it becomes a printable pattern before buying it (hopefully it does become a printable pattern).

 If you'd like to see me sew up my own version of the washi dress pattern, just comment below and let me know. 

Pattern Three - Christine Haynes Patterns - Emery

So if you've been following this blog for a while, you will know that Christine Haynes is pretty much my sewing idol when it come to indie patterns. When I was first learning to sew, I learned about a million things from her book Simple and Chic Sewing and I recently made my squirrel print dress from Christine's Derby Dress pattern.

There are so many beautiful versions of the Emery dress out there, for just a few examples look here, here and here. I don't really have much more to say about this one except I love Christine's Patterns and this kind of pattern is basically why I wanted to sew. So why haven't I made it yet? I have no idea! But in my defense I haven't owned this pattern long, I only bought it at the start of this year (when I bought a pattern to buy Rich a shirt). So it hasn't been lying around unused for too long. 

If you'd like to see me make up my own version of the Emery - let me know in the comments below.

So that's all about my March sewing challenge, let me know what you want to see - an Ashland, Washi or a Emery. Hope you all had a great weekend (I've been sick ALL weekend - its the WORST - obviously I'm not resentful about it).