Sewing for Work: Linen Dress

Sewing a Linen Dress

Anyone who knows me understands that I thrive in comfortable attire. Over the years, I have made a point to find the cute and comfortable in dresses. Since I started sewing clothes, dresses are my staple go to. I wanted to make a dress, inspired by these:

Credit to Diary of a Mad Crafter

Credit to Pinterest :-)

Credit to Pinterest :-)

So I went out and bought some linen material, and set to work last night sewing with an easy one hour pattern: McCall's 6102

I had my lamps on in my sewing room at first, so it was kind of dark in that picture! Oops-

First I cut out the pattern. Four pieces to cut total, and pretty basic in shape. 

Honestly, I usually avoid cutting out the guiding diamonds only because I have little patience sometimes. When the patterns get more complicated, I will stick with the detailed cutouts. 

Once I sewed the darts of the front, and the back of the dress to the front using two long straight stitches, I decided to venture off from the pattern and add some elastic to the middle for an empire waist. 

I put the dress on, and pinned where I wanted to waist to be. Because I usually have a difficult time with elastic and my needles, I pulled the elastic to stretch it, and used the pins as a guiding line to keep the elastic on the right path.

This worked really well, and I used a zig zag stitch on each side of the elastic. 

I had to re-thread the bobbin halfway through: #seamstressproblems

I will admit, I have begun to enjoy the simple steps used in re-threading because it is such a neat step. Sometimes tedious when I am in the middle of a project.

I sewed on the front and back facings, leaving the shoulders open. 

Once those were turned right side out, I sewed the shoulders together. 

I pressed the edges of the arm and neck holes, then finished by sewing another straight stitch to keep them pressed down.

It was really long, so I decided to take 4.5 inches off of the edge. I love my little sewing ruler for these reasons. All I have to do is match the edge to the 4.5 measurement, then fold it over and pin it to be hemmed. Learning to sew with tools has been a wonderfully slow process so I take enjoyment in little things I learn along the way!

I added two straight stitches to the hem, and cut off the extra. 

Honestly, I still have to add the zigzag stitch to the interior to finish it complete. 

The finished product! I added a belt to finish it off, and I wish I had turned on the regular lights to take this picture. It comes off more green because of the background, but it is comfortable, light, and professional. I like my clothes to fit loosely, so I am happy with how this turned out.