Everyday Dress in Medallion Print for #FrugalFrocks

When I saw an announcement for a sewalong challenge on IG called #FrugalFrocks2021, I knew it was one for me! I love dresses, and I love sewing frugally. The challenge was to take a free dress pattern, and match it with a fabric from your stash, and then reveal your make on March 31. I'll be sharing the project tomorrow on IG; blog readers get an advance view ;) 

I have quite a number of free dress patterns in my stash. I looked through a bunch of them, but ended up returning to the Everyday Dress by In The Folds for Peppermint Magazine. I had already traced this one last year and it was ready to go. I considered the Himari Dress by Love Sewing magazine, which I also have traced out. I also thought about making another Orla Dress. And I looked at the four or five dress downloads from Mood Sewciety that I have in my queue...and the handful from Fabrics-store.com. But when I found this medallion fabric in the deep stash I knew it would have to be the Everyday Dress.

Windy bright days don't equal ideal photo conditions ;) But they are lovely.

The fabric has a crisper hand -- it's like a medium weight fabric you might use for curtains or a pillow cover. But it also had the feel and look I wanted so I just went for it! Thankfully it turned out well; the fabric holds the shape of the dress in a way that I like (a soft linen makes this dress look too droopy for my personal tastes). It's also pretty, with turquoise, darker blue, mauve and gold in the print. 

The pattern itself is a pretty quick and easy one. It's theoretically reversible, with a round neck and a v-neck. I like the V neck in front, myself. The pockets went in just in the right spot and the finishing details, both facings at neck and hem, are nicely done. I really like the hem treatment, although it does mean that you'd better know what length you want when you cut it -- you can't really chop off anything at the bottom when you're done. The hem facing is incorporated into the cut fabric, and you just fold and mitre a couple of inches at the end. It gives a neat and tidy finish, especially around the side slits. I'm impressed with it! 

Other than the required shortening of the main pattern pieces prior to cutting, I didn't have to make too many adjustments. I was planning on shortening the sleeve, but since my old fabric was only 45" wide, I wasn't given much choice about how much to shorten them! I cut them as long as possible on this fabric and as it turns out this is the perfect length for my short arms. 

This was a fast sew but a thoughtfully planned one. The pattern has good instructions and a nice finish, as mentioned. I think I may make another in a different type of fabric for a whole other look. I'm so pleased that this sewalong finally gave me the impetus to make this dress, which I downloaded and traced over a year ago. 

Can't wait for a less windy day to wear this! ;)

In The Folds Ruffle Sleeve Top

If you are focusing on thrifty sewing, you can certainly not overlook the many free patterns available out there!

I love Peppermint Magazine, and one of the delights of their website is the high quality free patterns that they offer.

The Ruffle Sleeve Top developed by In the Folds for the magazine has been a very popular make in the Instagram sewing world. I decided to give it a try, and found a lovely, lightweight rich red linen at my local Goodwill -- a narrow piece but just enough to fit this pattern. So off I went!

I traced it off a couple of weeks ago and can't remember which size I chose -- there are ten sizes, marked A-J, so just check your measurements and pick the size you want. I do recall that I graded out from one size in the shoulder/bust to a larger one at the hem, which is pretty usual for me.

I also had to cut the sleeve ruffles on grain rather than across it, just to fit them onto the piece of fabric I had.

The construction of this pretty blouse takes a little longer than average, simply because it's so well done. There's a full facing, and everything is sewn with french seams. It takes a bit more effort but is worth the nice finish, especially when you are using a linen like this that frays like mad. The only place I didn't use french seams was when I inset the sleeve. And that was only because I sewed the first one on regularly instead of wrong sides together -- it was kind of easy to get mixed up with this fabric that doesn't have an obvious right/wrong side and I missed the clue that the seam was on the wrong side when pinning it on. It was way too hard to pick stitches out of this fabric; it just shredded it. So I left them sewn on in the regular manner and stitched and pinked the seam allowances to minimize fraying. 

Everything else went together very smoothly. I like the easy finger pressed suggestion for the hems; I used a narrow hem on the body even though the instructions said to make a bigger one, as I was afraid that the top would be too short for my liking. As it happens, it worked well, but I might slightly narrow and lengthen the hem by an inch next time around.

I love the bright colour and the distinctive sleeve. I took some pictures in the memorial rose garden on the grounds of a local church today, even though I disturbed a swarm of mosquitoes when stepping into the grass. Yikes. So. Many. Mosquitoes. Even in the middle of the day.

This is a really fun design, and if you are thinking about thrifty sewing, this is a good example of how thrift doesn't have to look cheap. This stylish pattern is a free offer; the linen was a great find at my local Goodwill -- 2 m. for $2. They serendipitously came together to make a wonderfully fitting summer top.