If you’ve read my blog in the past you’ll know I’m a fan of Trend patterns. Lucy is a pattern-cutter and designer based in London and I always make a bee-line for her stand when I go to the Knitting & Stitching shows. At the show last autumn I fell for the Square dress which, as the name suggests, has a square hem and diagonal seams. There are no bust darts because it uses bias cutting to create the fit and because there are no fastenings it’s actually a fairly quick make and would suit a dressmaker with a little bit of experience. If the lack of darts might cause you a problem I definitely suggest you toile the top half of the dress so that you can assess whether you personally need to carry out a Full Bust Adjustment (FBA) Lucy has been working hard to extend the size range across her patterns and as one of the newer styles the Square (TPC23) comes in the more extensive range sizes 8-22.
I bought a copy of the Square (and a skirt pattern too) and shortly afterwards my friend Dibs who owns Selvedge & Bolts online fabric shop asked if I’d like to choose some fabric as a gift in order to write a review of it. So with this pattern in mind, and my upcoming holiday, I picked out a fine linen in a tiny red/white ‘checked’ print. I was so happy with it when it arrived and it’s perfect for this loose type of style.
Before I cut into the beautiful linen I decided to make an initial version in some checked flannel which, at a guess, I’ve had over 25 years in my stash! You can’t rush these things…
Normally I’d try very hard to pattern-match the checks but there wasn’t enough to do that. The seams on the dress run diagonal but in fact only the back and front bodice are cut on the cross, the other rectangles of the skirt are cut on the straight grain so it’s much simpler than you might think to cut and sew together. The pieces are all quite large so there’s not much opportunity to cut many corners, and I didn’t quite have as much of the flannel as was recommended so I reduced the lower skirt panels (front and back are the same for this and the upper skirt panels, the front and back bodices are different though) To reduce the panel I simply folded out a parallel section through it’s longest side. This turned out to be advisable because at 5’5” the points would have touched the ground unless I was wearing high-ish heels.
I folded out a parallel 5cms segment of the lower skirt panel to reduce the overall length of the dress.
I cut a straight size 14 and made no other adjustments, the front and back are cut on single fabric and as they are asymmetric you’ll need to keep any directional-print in mind, especially if you reverse any pattern piece to fit it onto your fabric . It’s a straightforward make though so after the cutting out it’s a breeze. I would only suggest that you take care when pinning and sewing the diagonal sections together to avoid stretching the edges out of shape before you sew them. Keep everything flat on a table as much as possible while you do this part. The hem is a deep ‘grown-on’ one which you mitre at the points and this helps give the skirt it’s weight and fluidity. I was happy with the flannel version so I immediately cut the linen one ready to sew up.
The linen sewed together beautifully, it’s quite lightweight and with a lovely drape. As the seams are such a feature of the dress I decided to use one of the decorative stitches my Pfaff Quilt Ambition 2.0 has to offer. After trying a few I picked out a sort-of diagonal grid design which echoes the print on the fabric.
I’m really pleased with how the linen dress has come out, the decorative stitches are perfect for accentuating the seams and it’s such a comfortable style to wear. I’ve worn the flannel version mostly with a roll-neck jumper over the winter, it’s very striking and has garnered many compliments. the linen had to wait until we had our recent holiday to be worn but it was perfect for warm weather and, best of all, it has pockets! I can’t wait to be able to wear it again in the UK…
The shoulders are designed to be wide so there’s plenty of bra-strap coverage if you need it. You can see the deep hem in this shot, it’s ‘grown-on’ not a separate facing and you mitre the points at the front and back. This helps give the skirt a lovely weight and fluidity.
This such a simple-looking pattern but has so much scope to add drama, it’s distinctive without being outlandish and still be completely wearable…at least I think so!
I first met pattern maker Dhurata Davies at my friend Sal’s ‘Sew2gether’ event last spring and then our path’s crossed again unexpectedly a couple of months later when I made a last minute decision to go to the Threads textiles fair in Farnham. Dhurata was exhibiting there and she offered me a copy of her Maxine Sweater pattern in return for a review. The pattern is intended as a sweatshirt, and I’ve made one in a jersey fabric already, but it also works well in a woven too. It was the diagonal seam lines with pockets concealed in them that appealed to me. The sweatshirt version was for a Minerva fabric blog review which hasn’t appeared yet at the time of writing but now that I’ve made a second top I can tell you all about the pattern here.
I had picked up a modest remnant of ‘Woolsey’, a linen/wool fabric in the Merchant & Mills shop in Rye last August, it’s a lovely deep teal colour which is one of my favourites (although it’s a devil to photograph accurately). When I made the jersey version I made a size 16 based on my body measurements and there’s plenty of room in it so I knew I could risk making the same size in a non-stretch fabric. [If you are making anything more usually intended for a fabric with some stretch you will almost certainly need to go up a size or two, especially if it’s in any way close fitting. Measure the pattern itself if you’re not sure and don’t forget you need to be able to get it on, will it need additional openings like a zip or buttons if there’s no stretch to get it over your head, or your hips?]
Before I cut anything out I made myself a ‘whole’ sleeve pattern piece, it comes as a ‘half’ sleeve vertically so this needs to be placed on a fold in the fabric (twice as you need two sleeves!) but I always prefer to have a complete sleeve. Just stick the pattern to a large enough piece of paper so that you can fold it down the central ‘place on fold’ line, fold it in half and pin in a few places then cut out a new symmetrical pattern piece.
I knew I would not have enough fabric for the separate collar, cuffs and hem-band pieces but I could lengthen the body so that it wasn’t ridiculously short. I added about 10-12cms to the bottom of the front and back pieces. I had to decide how to finish the neckline instead of the collar and I came up with a combination of piping directly on the edge first and then a band of jersey ribbing. I didn’t know how, or if, this would work but the piping would look fine on it’s own if the jersey wasn’t any good.
The instructions and illustrations are nice and clear and straightforward and it’s not as difficult as you might imagine to get the diagonal cross in the centre. The seam allowance is just 1cm so I always highlight the pattern when this is the case so that, when I make the pattern again, I don’t sew it up as 1.5 by mistake and it’s all too small!
the centre cross close-up on the outside. and on the reverse.
Once the front was complete I joined it to the back at the shoulders and then made some bias binding for the neck. I had just enough scraps to cut 3 strips which were approximately 50cms long and 4cms wide which I joined to form one long strip. I have a specific piping foot for my Pfaff Quilt Ambition 2 which is really useful but you can usually use your zip foot if it allows you to stitch close enough to the piping cord. Not all zip feet are good at this especially if it’s the generic one which comes with the machine but there are usually adjustable ones you can buy which, in my experience, are better. The piping foot actually sits over the top of the fabric and piping cord rather than just beside it so it’s held more securely and stitches much closer to the piping for a better finish. If you want to see another use of the piping foot pop over to my review of the Simple Sew Lizzie dress.
this is the piping foot actually sitting over the top of the band as well as the piping too.
Once I’d made the piping I sewed it around the neck, raw edges together and making a neat join at the back. I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a matching jersey so I opted for a complete contrast. I bought 50cms each of deep red and dark grey tubular jersey from Backstitch and when I put them together I decided that the red made a more interesting garment. Generally when you’re adding a stretch band you work on the basis of it being approximately 85% of the neckline/cuff/waistband measurement that you’re attaching it to, depending on the stretch of the jersey. I’d made things tricky by adding the piping first so the machine had to go through a LOT of layers of fabric. I must say that the Pfaff sailed through it all pretty easily. The only time it was hard work was over the seam allowances on the cuffs. Because I was making this bit up as I went along I sewed the piping onto the cuff first then sewed the under arm seams, if I were using this finish again I would sew the under arm seam first and then put the binding on ‘in the round’ because it would be less bulky where it crosses the seam. I used my little seam-hopper gadget to help lift the foot to help ease it over the bulky seams, this one came with the machine but you can buy something called a Jean-a-ma-jig or even use a piece of thick folded cardboard.
On the left the cuff is folded and stitched and then folded again on the right. I ran a row of wide zigzag around the raw edges to keep them together before sewing them onto the cuffs. The neckband is done the same way.you can see it’s all a bit of a tight area to work in but the finished effect was worth it I think. The jersey has to stretch as it’s sewn onto the woven non-stretch fabric.this is inside the cuff, as you can see it’s quite messy and bulky but the little plastic gadget will help to ‘leapfrog’ over the seam. With the needle down to prevent it from moving stop just ahead of the seam, lift the presser foot and slide the gadget underneath the foot with its ‘toes’ either side of the needle (it can be from the front or the back depending which you’ve got better access to) and then lower it back down so the presser foot is resting on the gadget. The foot should now be on a better level to sew over the seam, sew forwards a few stitches until you’re clearing the seam then move the gadget around to the front (if you’ve had it at the back) and place it under the foot there. Come slowly forwards a few more stitches until you’re completely clear of the seam and back on level sewing again, always taking care that the needle doesn’t hit the plastic.the finished cuff
Having told you 85% is the usual amount for a stretch bands I should have made the neck one slightly shorter than that as it doesn’t sit completely flat even after a good amount of steaming. I left it though because it doesn’t look that bad and it would be a lot of work to re-do it. First join the band into a loop along it’s narrow edge then fold it lengthwise in the same manner as the cuffs and then divide it into 4 equal parts marked with pins. Next equally divide the neck (or cuffs) equally into 4 too. Pin the band onto the neck (or cuff) at the marks and stretch the band to fit and stitch in place. You can see from the photos that this was quite tricky because of the number of layers involved, I graded the layers so that it reduced the bulk as far as possible. All these layers plus the piping cord made it too difficult to get the cuffs under the overlocker so I finished the edges using a simple zigzag stitch. Around the neck I used the Coverlock 3.0 to coverstitch which had dual benefit of neatening on the inside and giving an attractive double row of top stitching on the outside.
the jersey band is very slightly wavy which suggests it’s fraction too long but it was too much hassle to take it all back off again and, frankly, CBA! this is the coverstitching from the outside, the piping made it really difficult to get closer as the width if the foot wouldn’t let it get any nearer. Incidentally, I tried this out on a small sample piece first so that if it all went horribly wrong I didn’t ruin the whole garment. I strongly recommend that you make samples of any new or unusual techniques you may want to try so that you don’t spoil all your good work, it’s worth the bit of extra time it takes.the coverstitching from the inside, it served the double purpose of top stitching on the outside and neatly covering the raw edge on the inside. I’d trimmed and layered all those edges first to reduce the bulk.
To finish the hem I just overlocked the edge, turned it up and stitched twice. So that’s it really, I’m very happy with the finished top, I layered it up with a thin RTW T-shirt when I wore it to go to Brighton recently. The fabric doesn’t seem to crease so much as bend, it’s of a double-weave construction the same as cotton double gauze.
pre-crumpling and modelled by Doris
I’m really happy with the outcome of this top, the fabric has lent itself well to the more smocky kind of shape and although it was bit involved I really like the finished effect of the addition of the stretch cuffs and piping onto an otherwise simple garment. The ‘Woolsey’ fabric does fray a bit because of the loose weave but it’s manageable. Incidentally, this pattern looks great lengthened into a dress or with the pockets left out of the seams if you’re short of fabric.
Thank you Dhurata for the gift of the pattern, in my opinion it’s a goody and if you aren’t adding extras like me it’s a nice quick half-day make. Dhurata has also designed some lovely children’s patterns too which you might be interested in.
Susan Young Sewing 