Groovy, baby!

A week ago today I was making pants…the British kind!

Thank you to the beautiful Winnie for inviting me for an awesome crafty day in Bath. I apologize that it has taken me so long to say thanks. I’ve been a little distracted this week making two muslins and a dress! But before I go on to tell you about them I have to give you a bit back story on why I decided to make this particular pattern.

Something has been popping up among sewing bloggers for the last few months. Stitch and Witter has it. As does Thread Carefully, True Bias, and Julia Bobbins. Even Casey of Elegant Musings has one! Well I am here to throw my name into the list cause I got one too!

Here I am sporting my new groovy 1970s dress and wee bump. Sixteen weeks gone, twenty-four to go!

The maternity pattern I used looked very straight-forward but I was still really nervous about cutting into my Liberty fabric without some practice. So much so that I made two wearable(ish) muslins. I graded the pattern from a bust size 40 to 42 but soon found out the amount of ease would have made the dress fit fine without any big changes. The yoke was so baggy I added a keyhole of sorts to try and take the puffiness away. It sorta worked. But the shoulders are definitely still far too wide.

Thank goodness for cardigans and sweaters. They hide lots of issues: chubby arms, back boobs, baggy yokes, you know, the usual.

So for muslin numero dos I went with a bust size 40. And I shoulda (coulda woulda) taken in the shoulders by half an inch or so but laziness won out. I didn’t want to mess with the armscye because I didn’t want to adjust the sleeve. Boy was that dumb. I didn’t even use the sleeves. They were a bit too groovytastic, if you know what I mean. Sadly this second version kind of reminds me of the uniform used by the reptile aliens in the movie V.

Yeah. Not amused, there. The black poplin I used also has a sheen to it. Reminds me of a garbage bag. Not cute. Will I wear it? Maybe. Big maybe. But this wreck was totally worth it because this beauty came from all that practice.

This was my first time sewing with Liberty fabric. You read/hear people say “It was a dream to sew with” and it’s true. Totally not an overrated statement. It’s the butter of fabrics. Love it, want more of it, please, thank you. And holy moly does this fabric make this dress look…well…pricey. As it should because Liberty fabric doesn’t come cheap. Worth every freaking penny.

For the yoke I used some lovely Japanese lace I bought from Etsy. I initially bought it to make an Ava top. Thankfully I have loads left over for when I decide to make another one.

I made some bias binding for the shoulders. I really love the contrast between the binding and the yoke. So delicate and pretty.

I actually patted myself in the back and sighed with relief once I was done with the centered zip. You can’t see but I lined the dress and was deathly afraid of really cocking up at this stage. Luckily it all went smoothly.

So there you have it: pants, two muslins, a dress, and a wee babe. No one can say I’m not productive. With that said I am really looking forward to learning on how to make this curvy body delicious maternity wear. Because let’s face it, the chub doesn’t get much love in the maternity clothes department. And I refuse to be a fashion victim just because my stomach will be four times its size in a few months 🙂