Good things come in pairs – shirt dress take two

I found my white shirt dress so versatile and comfortable, that I wore it all the time. So I made myself another one of those, this time with no modifications (see the technical drawing in this post).

This lovely fabric comes from Ditto, quite fine cotton, and, to my surprise, it doesn’t really crease.

The pattern asked for 2.8 metres, and I only had 2.5. I had to try very hard to make it stretch. For that reason, the back of the dress I had to make out of two separate pieces stitched in the middle. The print is busy, so you can’t tell. The other thing that would have ruined it if it wasn’t for the eye–boggling flowers – the direction of print is upside down on the back. Again, it’s almost impossible to notice.

From tracing the bits of the pattern I haven’t traced for the white dress (collar, collar stand, sleeves) to finish it took me a day and a half. Instead of pressing all the seams open, then to the side, and then zigzag stitching, I now stitch the seam, then zigzag, and then press to the side. I haven’t noticed much difference  in the appearance of the seams in thinner fabrics, but it saves me a lot of time.

Buttons are from Ditto as well. I think they are shell but covered with something soft to touch. It’s a deep, iridescent blue, rather wonderful. I wasn’t sure whether to use them on this dress – the colour coordinates perfectly, but their beauty dissapears among the print. I guess I will have to get more of these and make a plain shirt or a cardigan to really show them off.