The Heron dress by The Sewing Revival

By being a part of the organisation of the first Sew Over 50 challenge it has meant I’ve come across pattern companies which I hadn’t heard of before. In several cases they made contact with me directly through the comments at the end of the first blog post. Not all of these companies make patterns that appeal to me personally but The Sewing Revival in New Zealand was one which did. Janine Pomeroy has created a small but growing number of simple, chic and wearable styles and because they are PDFs they are easily available to you wherever you are in the world.

Janine very generously gifted me the Heron dress (it also comes as a top too) and I’ve just finished making it up in time for my upcoming holiday.

The PDF was initially just available as A4 or US letter format but is one one of their first to also come as A0 copy shop format too. It comes with LOTS of useful and helpful information for when you print it out-there’s even instructions in how to print only the size you need if you prefer, I can’t think of another company I’ve come across which actually talks you through it, I have limited IT skills and wouldn’t have known how to do this for myself so that was helpful. Also, when ordering your pattern, you opt for the set of 3 sizes closest to the size you require according to your measurements. I like this arrangement because you don’t have an overwhelming number of lines to try and cut out from. I’m a UK 12-14 in RTW so I’ve made the size Medium and I’m very happy with it. If you do print all the sizes because you want to cut between different measurements for example then each size prints in a different colour-this is worth bearing in mind because if you print in B&W only they aren’t various styles of dot and dashed lines.

I bought some lovely pale blue viscose/linen printed with navy and red flowers from my recent visit to Ditto fabrics in Brighton specifically for the Heron. If you’re a novice sewer there is plenty of guidance included on which fabrics would work well, as well as other lay plan and cutting tips too.

It’s more pale blue than grey, you’ll see in my later photos.

There are only a few pattern pieces so it doesn’t take long to cut out and start sewing. There are some clever details which mean you don’t have lots of extra facings or elastic casings to cut and sew on, they are included which means the sewing doesn’t take that long either.

I printed out the making instructions in booklet format and I found the photos a tad small that way, I should have left them A4 for clarity although, that said, it’s fairly obvious what you’re doing and there are plenty of written instructions too.

I like the clever way the front facing is ‘grown-on’ so you just neaten the centre front seam and, eventually, once the backs and sleeves are sewn together [raglan sleeve so not tricky setting in] the neck edge gets folded over twice and stitched. This becomes the casing for the elastic.

the neck edge folds over and the stitching encloses the elastic. It’s a very simple method.

The deep cuffs fold up in a similar way which is clever because it does away with the need to neaten the cuff hem or to sew on any binding to create a casing for the elastic. It all forms one finished unit in the end.

I used the quilting guide on my machine to keep the correct distance away from the first row of stitching [it’s the piece of bent metal that might be included with your other machine attachments. It slots into a little hole just behind the foot usually and you tighten a little screw to keep it the distance you want] The elastic is wide in the sleeves which means you can’t see any of your usual visual markers and this saves having to laboriously draw on markings.

I should add that the Heron includes in-seam pockets which are a must, and there is a belt pattern too with additional ideas on how to add D-rings to it so it isn’t just a tie belt. I was so eager to finish that I didn’t notice until after I’d sewn it that the hem is finished using bias tape! This gives a lovely neat finish without losing any length, I just did a narrow rolled hem which looks fine too.

worn without the belt

…and with the belt.

rosy cheeks after a run and no make up!

As I said earlier, I was given the pattern to try out but I can honestly say I’m really pleased with my Heron and I look forward to wearing it. I’ve already got another fabric lined up for a blouse length version. I thought the sleeves looked like they might be too short but actually they are fine.

The reason The Sewing Revival came to my attention is because they use realistic models to promote their patterns, Janine made a conscious decision to do that whilst still creating covetable and wearable styles of the sort that dressmakers of any age will want. I’d love to know if you’ve used this brand and what you thought, or do you know of any others like it that could be brought to a wider audience? The Sew Over 50 challenge runs until March 15th 2019 so you’ve still got time to join in, and you don’t need to be over 50 to participate!

Until next time,

Sue