A short while ago Tasia from Sewaholic published new product photos of older patterns. I liked those of the Cambie Dress so much, that I decided to sew me another one. I don’t wear the two Cambie dresses I sewed before that often (here the red one, here the black one). Somehow I feel overdressed in them. But those new product pictures made the pattern look so casual that I decided to give the pattern another try.
I bought that fabric at a blogger’s meet-up in Stuttgart. I didn’t like the store where I boght it at first, but at some point I found the rolled up and hidden fabrics and I started to like it (here’s proof! :D Look how blurry I am in that first pictures. That’s because I moved so fast to touch all those fabrics ;)) The fabric was love at second sight because at first it looked like an ordinary flowery fabric, but than boooum all its magic unravelled when I saw that the flowers became bigger at the selvages. It is 100 % cotton but very light and a little transparent.
That meant that I had to cut all the pieces perpendicular to the grain. And that I had quite a challenge cutting all the pieces from only 2 m of fabrics. Especially since I wanted the gathered skirt. I really wonder why the back pieces of the dress are wider than the front piece on the fold.. That menas that there is a lot more fabric over your but than at the front. and because I wanted to save fabric I just cat front piece and back pieces equally wide.
I completely lines the dress with some very stiff fabric I got on sale. I don’t think it is meant to be used as lining, but whatever, it really gives the skirt a nice stable shape I think!
Another plus is that you cannot see through the dress because of the transparent fabric;)
I lengthened the dress, as I usually do. For the first two dresses a used my standard lengthening length of 4cm for the bodice. It seemed a little too long for m, so this time I only lengthened by only 2 cm and I think that’s better. I sewed size 6, as before, it is my size according to the size chart and it fits me well.
I had no trouble sewing this dress. It is easy to sew and the instructions are well written. Okay, one thing: I always have problems with matching seams at the back when there is a waist band involved, ugh. It didn’t work out great this time, but as the fabric is kind of noisy I am fine with it as it is.
All in all I like this version better than the ones I did before. Nevertheless I don’t feel the same love for this pattern as I feel for the Flora or Hawthorn dress. I am not sure what exactly it is. Maybe this dress is just a tiny bit too cute for my taste with its heart shaped neckline and all those gathers.
I really like the dress anyway and I still think this fabric is gorgeous and makes up for everything!
So, what do you think? Too cute? Not my shape? And what shapes do you prefer?
Katharina
You look stunning in this dress!
Hi Kat,
I really like your dress. I specially love the way in which you worked the fabric design.
Maybe you would like it better with a straight neckline instead of a heart sahped?
By the way, there is a good tutorial by ByHandLondon on how to do a good alignment of the waistline when you insert a zipper. It ma be useful for you.
http://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/33747524-nerdy-sewing-tips-how-to-get-your-waistline-to-match-perfectly-either-side-of-an-invisible-zipper
M
When I opened your blog and started reading the post I only saw the first picture to the 3/4 of its height, so I saw the red fabric of the dress. And then I scrolled down the page and BOOM! – there was this surprising row of big blue flowers, beautiful! *^v^*
I think this dress suits you very well but more important is whether you like it or not. Sometimes we just don’t feel good in some clothes and we cannot do anything about that. I love the fitted dresses on me and I hate the potato sack types that suit other people well.
I’ve never came across such skirt construction – more fabric on the back than of the front. But I know the technique of twice as much fabric on the front than on the back. It probably depends on what you want to achieve – puffy back of fuller front.
Thank you so much :-) I don’t like wearing garments that aren’t fitted either.. I’m wearing the dress today and I’m feeling just fine, maybe I’ll just need some time with it to get used to it :-)
I love this dress on you and also feels it suits you well! After a quick peek at the other two lovely versions you’ve made, this one is my favorite too. Agree with one of the other commenters in that it really depends on how you feel…. what you think. You got a great fit with the modifications you made here and no, I do not think it looks ‘cutsie’, but it does look summery and fun to wear.
Great dress! The fabric is definitely the star! You did a good job on fitting too. I have to confess that I almost always hand pick my zippers now – it is a little slow, but you don’t have to redo them & it’s so easy to get everything lined up. Maybe I’m just a control freak. ;-)
Yes! this is gorgeous! and perfect for your figure. I LOVE that red and blue print; so vibrant and interesting. Just lovely all over :) I want one too!