The stars just seemed to align for this project… Some time ago I was very lucky to win a fat quarter bundle from Michael Miller fabrics in the Great London Fabric Hunt with Candice Ayala, who is the creative genius behind Sewing Portfolios! The line is called Saturday Morning and includes some sweet florals, butterflies, bunnies and bicycles. At the time I wasn’t sure what to make with it – I’m not a quilter, I just love to make clothes! So I set it aside for lightning to strike!
This year I am “trying hard” to sew from my stash. That includes patterns I own and fabric I have! I will be testing less because of working committments but I will be sewing with all the spare time I have! I decided this fabric and this pattern were a perfect match – right in time for Easter!
I have been spending some time revisiting all the great patterns included in the One Thimble E-zines! There are seriously so many!! I want to work my through and make all the things on my list. I started last week by running up a Little Moo Designs Tahlia skirt from Issue 7 and this week I made a Trillium from Issue 14. Don’t expect there to be any rhyme or reason to my list – I will be making what ever I like in no particular order 😉
I’m not going to say a whole lot about this outfit – I’ll let the pictures do the talking! I made the top with a straight hem, so it could be worn with little shorts (Twig + Tale Pixie Shorts). By cutting it straight across the back I managed to get the back out of a single fat quarter. I played around with the rest to get a combination I loved.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of my nutty littlest monster!
Hi everyone! Welcome to the first stop on the Sis Boom Patterns Angie Hack-A-Thon Tour! I am so excited to show you my version of the Angie, it’s definitely my new favourite dress.
You might remember in my recent post from the Just For Me January Tour that I am an Angie fan and that I planned to make one in knit fabric!
With most things in life, I like to do a bit of research and then just give it a go. Usually that works out fine… In this case I think I pretty much nailed it!
Let’s take a look at a picture from the original pattern to get a feel for the bones of the dress.
Sis Boom Patterns Angie Dress Pattern
Here’s where the “Hack” comes into it. I decided to make a knit version instead of woven for my hack, partly because I love the drape and most definitely for the comfort and fit. I also decided to reverse the height of the necklines and make the front a high neckline and the back low. I used a quarter circle skirt instead of a gathered one and I added cap sleeves!
I cut out all my pieces for the bodice and basted them together with my sleeves to make sure they worked and I was shocked, {cough!} I mean not suprised at all that they did! I unpicked the bodice and remade it with my serger/overlocker (because unpicking overlocking stitching is not fun, so we like to avoid that).
I made the same size I made last time as the knit was fairly stable and not super stretchy. I used the full width of the front darts, but not the back as that made the front & back width match, which made matching the skirt easier.
Here’s how I reversed the necklines. Cutting out my front piece above, will you just look at those fancy schmancy pattern weights! I laid the back piece on top, matching the shoulders, just to use the neckline. I folded the rest of the pattern out of the way. I did the same process for the back bodice piece, but next time I may make it even more of a dramatic plunge!
I bound the neckline by using a strip of the knit about 2cm wide or 3/4″ and applied it like bias tape. I sewed it on the outside of the neckline right sides together, flipped it up and over to the inside of the garment so that could not be seen and sewed it down. I stretched the binding like you do when you are doing neck bands etc on knit, but I think next time I might not stretch it much at all.
For the sleeve I used a cap sleeve pattern I had from a t-shirt dress I had made recently. I hemmed them before attaching. The head of the sleeve ended up a little big but with a little pleat at the top, it fit perfectly.
To match my sleeves and side seams nicely, I always tack them together first using the sewing machine and check they line up perfectly before I overlock all the way from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the bodice (see below).
I cut out a quarter circle skirt from a woven dress pattern I had made before and sewed up the side seams. Then I just trimmed a few cm from the top of the skirt until the circumference of the skirt matched the circumference of the bodice. I added the elastic to the back waist per the pattern which gives it these sweet gathers and a slimmer silhouette overall. I didn’t hem the dress as the knit does not fray. If you cut it nice and straight it’s absolutely not necessary (yay)!!
This was quite a fast project! The next time around will be even faster now that I have tested it all. I’d love if you’d leave me a comment and let me know what you think or what you would do to “Hack” your Angie!
Play along all week with my sewing friends and be prepared to be inspired by their incredible ideas! You wont believe how different each dress looks all made from the one base pattern. Keep up to date by following the Sis Boom Patterns Blog!
idle sunshine 