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Penny Dress by Sew Over It

Pattern: Penny Dress by Sew Over It
Fabric: Viscose from C&H (on sale for £8/m!)
Little Bits: 100m Gutermann sew all thread

Size: 8
Version: NA
Mods: No buttons. Chose to sew the button band shut instead. Hand stitched down each row of existing button band stitching to attach the 2 bands together.

The pattern

I chose to purchase the PDF pattern for this one. I hadn’t done that before and I was intrigued to see what that process was like. I’m not sure how it is elsewhere but buying PDF patterns from Sew Over It was very easy. Plus the download link in the orders section never expires. That’s a massive plus so I don’t have to worry about not being able to get it again should I lose my file.

My original intention was to print it myself and then piece it together but then I realised it was 40-some pages. While some people find this stage to be therapeutic, I’m a bit impatient and if I have time to sew I want to spend it sewing. Decision made, I ordered my printed version from NetPrinter (https://netprinter.co.uk). It was reasonably priced and the patterns came quickly, printed on lovely thick paper.

The pattern itself is very easy to understand although I did struggle with a few bits. I don’t want to blame the pattern because maybe it was me but I had a few fights with the collar section. It just seemed a bit too short and didn’t want to fit along the neckline edge nicely. I finally settled on a few little tucks being sewn into the seam as the collar was going to be hiding it anyway.

The fabric

I’m sorry to say I don’t have much information about this fabric. It was in a C&H shop, and when I felt how drapey it was I snapped it up for my Penny. At the time I did check the fabric to make sure it was a suitable material, I just can’t remember now. If I had to guess I think it is a viscose because it feels very similar to my Pirate Kalle material. I can remember that it was on sale for £8/metre which made my 3.2m purchase a very reasonable expense! It washed well and after drying can see it doesn’t really crease which is brilliant. For the dress style I want it for anyways!

It was a bit tricky to cut out. As is any slippery fabric. I finally got it into place to cut the large skirt piece and it far overlapped my cutting mat. I didn’t want to move it about, even if I pinned it, so I used my scissors to cut around the skirt portion that wasn’t over the cutting mat. Then I finished the rest with my rotary cutter.

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