Crafty Bloggers Club - Karen's Cosy Jersy Dress in a Soft Modal Fabric
This months' Crafty Bloggers' Club post is from Karen. You can find more of her makes on Instagram @sew.little.time
Hi everyone! I’m really excited to be back as a guest on the Crafty Sew & So Blog today, to share my version of the MHW Patterns Cosy Jersey Dress and Tunic with you.
I recently noticed that I had a distinct lack of warm items in my wardrobe and also not many made in comfortable jersey, so I was really happy to start sewing my version of this pattern up.
The Cosy Jersey Dress pattern comes with 3 different style variations and I chose to go with the dress option which is suitable for more drapier fabrics. I picked out the most gorgeously soft modal jersey to sew it up in – called "Tabitha Floral Tencel Modal Single Jersey". I’ve not sewn with this kind of fabric before and I have to say it is a wonderful fabric to sew and wear and I’ll definitely make more things in this type of fabric again. It has a really nice drape to it, but at the same time has good weight so it’s not too tricky to handle.
The dress pattern is made up in panels which is completely different to any other garment I’ve sewn before, but these style lines give the dress a really nice shape and it also means that you don’t need to sew in any sleeves as they form a grown-on sleeve.
The dress has a V-neck which is not something I’ve sewn before but it was very easy to do. You stabilise the neckline by adding an interfaced facing and then you top-stitch that down which I think is a really nice feature. I also made sure I stay-stitched the neckline at the start of sewing to ensure I didn’t stretch the neckline out whilst handling the fabric.
The instruction booklet provided with the pattern is very clear with written instructions for each step alongside photographic images.
The version I made comes with an optional belt which you can sew into the front seams of the dress. I added the belt but made a slight change to the way I attached it. I decided to sew the belt pieces together to form a separate belt first and I then topstitched it into place on the dress within the back seam lines.
As this fabric is so weighty, I noticed that it was a bit "gapey" underneath the arms, so to rectify that I added in a dart on each side and this solved my problem.
I hemmed the dress so it just falls at my knees and I really like this length on me.
Overall, I am really pleased with how the dress turned out and have been wearing it so much. It is super comfortable and so easy to wear. I love how you can style it up with a cardigan too for those chillier days.
I would really like to make the tunic version of this dress, but would make that in a sweatshirt fabric for a long cosy jumper.
If you would like to see my dress in more detail, please head on over to my YouTube channel Sew Little Time where I have shared it in my January Makes Vlog.
Happy Sewing!
Karen x
“Crafty Bloggers' Club Contributors are given products and materials to test from Crafty Sew & So. We hope you enjoy their honest and impartial reviews of the products. All opinions are their own.”