Hellooooooooo! How are you guys doing? Everybody having a good day? I hope so! So, do you ever notice themes in your sewing? Lately my sewing has been all about fun fabric in a simple shape. Fussy sewing and fussy garments just aren’t very cool in the heat! So, for August’s Mood Sewing Network project*, I decided to stay the course and make one more fun print + simple silhouette dress. Why not keep the streak going? 🙂 I chose this beautiful rayon print because I loved the abstract images… I mean, are these birds, or are they palm trees? My vote is for palm trees, but that might just be because I love them!

The fabric has a delicious crepe-y texture, and it’s ever so slightly sheer. I’m hoping that the voluminous shape counteracts the transparency of the fabric. I think it works- no sneaky peekies on display in these photos, anyway! However, I finished the seams with pinking sheers because I worried that serging or Hong Kong binding might show through or look lumpy on the right side. Instead of using fusible interfacing for the facings, I stitched in silk organza, because I’m a very fancy person and definitely not because I ran out of interfacing and accidentally ordered the wrong replacement. 😉

I really enjoyed working with this fabric. The texture of the fabric gave it some grip, so it wasn’t slippery to cut or sew, and it responds beautifully to steam. I was careful, though, not to press with the iron on the right side. In a crepe fabric, the texture comes from the twist and crimp in the fibers, which can easily be crushed with the iron. When that happens, you get gross shine marks… no good! So I pressed from the wrong side, steamed from the right, and used my fingers to mush the steam into the seams. Super technical stuff! 🙂

The pattern is the Papercut Patterns Sway dress, the long variation with a tie belt. Katie sent me a copy to try along with the Guise Pants. Thanks, Katie! Now, I was really drawn towards the shorter, trapeze-ier version, but I figured I’d give this longer length a try just for kicks. It feels a little frumpy compared to the shorter dresses I’ve been wearing lately, but I may just need to wear this a few times to get comfortable with the length and the belted waist. The pattern is very easy to put together and the instructions are nice and clear. I generally avoid anything with bias seams as I hate leveling out the hem, but it was really pretty painless. I’ll definitely revisit this pattern!

The dress has center front and center back seams, and I was concentrating so hard on fitting all the pattern pieces on the fabric with the print all going the same direction that I didn’t even consider matching the print. Whoops! Hopefully it’s not too noticeable.

WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!?!

Why, it’s a reversible dress! Since it only needs to fit at the shoulders, it can be switched around and worn with either the v-neck or the round neckline facing the front! Tricky business!

Man Friend review: “The belt is nice”.

OF COURSE.

Alright, now please tell me- what’s on your sewing table right now? Simple silhouettes with fun prints? All solids all of the time? Complicated tailoring projects? And, are you Team Palm Trees, or Team Birds? Do tell!

*Once a month I receive a fabric allowance from Mood to make something fun! I blog it first on the MSN blog, then over here. If I use stash materials or things purchased from another source, I’ll let you know in my post. 🙂