Maaidesign: See You At Six sweater dress

One of only three pieces of new fabric that have found their way home with me this year was this exquisite remnant of See You At Six French Terry from Maaidesign

I'm over on the Maaidesign blog talking more about the fabric. Follow this link for the blog post and then all the lovely/dangerous links to the new batch of See You At Six fabrics! The moral of the story is don't delay. These fabrics always sell out super fast, and for good reason

Using a remnant limited me somewhat with my pattern and I almost considered a hoodie for my daughter. But once you've felt this fabric then there's no way you're not going to claim it for yourself. And those colours are so absolutely me (even if floral prints usually aren't me!)

I settled on Butterick B6494, a raglan sleeve dress pattern that I'd bought when I was one my hunt for a good raglan pattern (just before Liesl + Co released the Neighbourhood Sweatshirt which I could easily hack into a dress)

It was a bit tricky fitting it onto the fabric (sorry I don't know exactly what the cut was - maybe more than 1m, but less than 1.5m), but doable thanks to the six, narrow panels of the dress and the fact that I didn't have to match my print, and the fabric is a generous 150cm wide.

Too lazy for a proper muslin I hit up Sewing Pattern Review for tips. Based on that "research" I sized down one size from my measurements - after all, I knew with this fabric I could get away with figure hugging. The other change was to leave off the pockets. 

The pockets are normally set into the princess seams at the front and would end up overlapping each other by an inch or two at the middle. That puts five layers of fabric, two for each pocket and one for the centre front panel, right on one's belly spot. No thanks! - and I adore pockets... I toyed with the idea of a kangaroo pocket which would give me a three layer thickness evenly across the centre, but I actually didn't have enough fabric leftover even for that.

Since Flipper is particularly fond of this dress I have no need for pockets as he seems to magically appear whenever I put it on, and so I can simply hand him things to carry! 

So there you go, make cuddly pajamas to get more hugs from your kids, and sew a tight dress for a more helpful and attentive husband! All the lifestyle tips on this blog :)

You're welcome.

As I was sewing I basted the side seams and tried it on several times before overlocking the seams. I reduced the side seam allowances down to 1/2" from the pattern's 5/8" to give myself a bit more breathing room, but then had to take it the shoulders and arms by an enormous amount. I think I ended up reducing the upper arm circumference by almost two inches.

It appears to be drafted for a much larger upper chest/back and upper arm than the waist/hip size. The sleeve length is also generous. I took 1cm off before cutting as I just could not eke it out of my fabric remnant any other way, and even with my long-ish arms they're a great length.

I'm almost looking forward to colder weather now. Bring it on!

Details:

Pattern: Butterick B6494

Size: 12

Modifications: Sleeve widthe reduction

Fabric: See You At Six french terry from Maaidesign