Belgravia Knit Dress

I'm always delighted to do a pattern test for Liesl + Co. Even when the missive arrives just before a holiday, I sign up and then drop everything else and fit it in somehow.

Just before the first of this year's cancelled holidays (remember the bushfires? they feel like years ago already) I got the chance to sew the Belgravia Knit Dress.

This is the View A: Short sleeves and shorter ties that just knot at the front.

I chose a fairly stable cotton lycra type knit out of the stash (source long since forgotten), and as I always love stripes I thought it would be fun to use a stripe and play with the angles of the bodice.

It turns out Liesl had considered adding a pattern warning NOT to use a stripe due to the bodice being cut on the bias. :) What can I say, I like a bit of danger :)

The stripe actually helped me with the pattern test, as I was so extra careful to cut it all perfectly aligned and then sew every seam with stripes matching, it was easy to see where the test pattern had a small error. My stripes matched but the lengths were wrong, ergo pattern error. In any other print I might have pinned the edges, then the notches then stretched to fit and never noticed the small discrepancy.

But I apologise if you're getting that screen stripes distortion thing and it's hurting your eyes! :)

I went with my measurements (size 10) and made it without any modifications for this first version. True to my shape I should have added torso length and given myself a bit more room through the hips compared to the bodice.

It's a quick and easy dress to sew and is as easy to wear as a T-shirt.

Way back when we were still allowed to go outdoors, I was scheduled to go bar hopping as part of my Melbourne Frocktails planning duties (tough gig but someone has to do it) and I suddenly decided I wanted the long sleeved, longer ties view B version to wear...

This time it's a cheap, slinky synthetic knit, probably a rayon but who knows. I graded out one size over the hips and added 1" of torso length to drop those ties down to my natural waist.

That little adjustment, along with the extra length ties which cross at the back and then tie at the front, makes all the difference. Magic waistline!

This dress pattern reminds me of the Vogue Vena Cava dress (which I've sewn and still love) but without the mental construction!

The whole dress can be made on a straight stitch sewing machine as I did with my striped first version. but then, once I had one run through of the construction under my belt, this one was sewn laregly on the overlocker, with the sewing machine only required for the ties and waist seam as well as hemming.

Its getting too cold for the short sleeved version, but I wore this one today and while I only saw two humans that aren't my immediate household, they both commented on  how lovely my dress was! Thanks unrelated humans. xx

Liesl just posted some fabric and styling inspiration images and I really want a dark green wool jersey version for winter. The waist ties feel a bit like an all day gentle hug and in a lovely wool it would be divine.

There's a couple of other tester's versions on the Oliver + S blog too and they're lovely! - and they obviously have nicer gardens than mine as their lockdown photos have more pleasing backgrounds :)

How are you coping with being cooped up? We've just had our second cancelled vacation of the year and I've turned into a crochet maniac. Then there was some sewing, then a bit more crochet... I've got a lot of blogging to catch up on!