le mani d'oro

Sewing a maxi dress for Florence

Sewing is a hobby for me. A hobby that dresses me up in a unique, fun and sometimes elegant way, but still a hobby. I have sewn for my younger sister occasionally. She is not a fan of fashion and sometimes I think that she needs one or two peaces that fit well and give structure to her wardrobe.

After sewing a maxi dress for me. This lovely friend of mine, Florence, asked me to make one for her. Aaaaawwww what it ever so worth it ?

If you want to give your shot at this :

I used Jalie 2805 t-shirt pattern as a base for the top. Florence is a perfect size Q. I simply needed to make a sway back correction of 1 cm.
In the center back I drew a perfect straight line down to the length I wanted. (this pattern is cut on fold but I usually prefer to make a full pattern to be right, right, right on grain) In this case it was her back length going to the floor plus hem, since she wanted to wear it with flats or low heals.
From centre back, the hem is curvy and you go up on a slow curve for about two centimetres on the sides. This way the hem is straight on model. If you hesitate, take any wide skirt pattern for knits and use the hem curve as a base.
If you need an example of hem curve use Kwik Sew 3333 dress pattern.
The width of the back at hem is 110 cm and 100 in the front.
From the hip, I drew the side seams freehand.
On this dress the front is shorter so that she can walk freely and dance as well.It might look nicer with a longer front but it is not fun when you walk, I have tried it. I also do not like the look of a dress that falls like a cascade on you feet. It looks like the person did not take the time to hem at the proper length.
I used a bamboo knit with a very silky hand and enough body to fall nicely and elegantly.
For a dress of 1m50 long (Florence is about 1m68) you will need about 2m70 of 1m50 wide knit (without sens). It all depends on the width of the dress.

The front and back pattern pieces look like this: