5 years ago
Hello sewing friends, it's Kathy here.
This time I have sewn my very first Darling Ranges Dress from Megan Nielsen. It's my favourite dress silhouette which is a fitted bodice and a gathered skirt but first let's talk about my fabric choice...
This adorable floral 100% cotton caught my eye the second that I saw it. Firstly I cannot ignore a pretty floral, and secondly I fell for the dusky mauve base/background colour which is really unusual. The floral colours are an eye catching mustard, purple and green and when the fabric arrived it was everything that I was expecting and more!
The photographs that I've included for this post were taken in bright sunshine and we found it really difficult to show the fabric at it's true colour, but between these images and the one showing the fabric here on the Minerva site, I hope you will get the idea!
Don't forget the link to this fabric (and the pattern) will be at the end of this blog post.
The Darling Ranges shirt dress has a size range of 0-20 (US size), with size 0 being a 32" bust, and size 20 a 46" bust. My measurements are 35-29-39 and with these measurements sitting between sizes, and looking at the finished dress sizes, I chose to cut a size 8.
The dress was easy to sew, and the instructions include lots of tips and notes to help you get the most out of this pattern.
I particularly liked the way that the neckline was finished with bias tape and the clever way that this was joined to the button placket.
I made my usual pocket adjustment, ( I'm only 5'2") which was to raise the height of the pocket placement. In this case by 1".
The bodice is cinched in at the back with ties which are sewn to the outside of the back of the dress. These ties are quite short and I have seen a lot of reviews online on this pattern mentioning that they were too short. I liked the fact that they were short as I enjoyed how they are simply tied in a double knot, with no extra length necessary. If you prefer to tie your ties in a bow, then you might want to cut them double the length.
The sleeve length is pretty and sits in the nook of your elbow. The fullness is just perfect in my opinion and I made sure my elastic was nice and loose as there's nothing more uncomfortable than a tight elastic sleeve cuff.
I decided to use 8 buttons instead of the 9 mentioned on the notions list for this pattern. Eight buttons are used on the pattern pictures and line drawings and this looked just right to me. Because 6 x buttons are marked on the skirt pattern piece, and I only wanted to sew 5, I decided to mark the placement of the top one and the bottom one and space the remaining 3 at regular intervals inbetween.
What I would mention is that the placement of the bottom buttonhole on the skirt piece is really low. After you have turned up your skirt the 2.5" that is required, you will find that the bottom button and buttonhole sit right at the bottom. In future I will ignore the bottom button placement and place the 5 x skirt buttons on every marking except the lowest one. Even if I were using 6 buttons I would not use the lowest buttonhole marking for this reason.
I used buttons from my stash for this but don't forget the huge choice of buttons on the Minerva site if you don't already have some at home.
All in all though I absolutely love this pretty dress, which I am excited to wear now that the warmer weather is finally here (fingers crossed).
Thank you to all at Minerva for this beautiful fabric.
Take care and I'll be back soon,
Kathy x
@Sew Dainty
#MinervaBrandAmbassador #Minervamakes #Minervamakers #summerdress #summerstyle #darlingranges #mndarlingranges #darlingrangesdress #megannielsenpatterns #megannielsen #floraldress #floralcotton #prettydress #sewover50 #isew #memade #memadeeveryday #handmadedress #ilovesewing #sewingismyyoga #sewist #sewcialists #floralfabric #minervafabric #imadethis #thanksimadeit
This time I have sewn my very first Darling Ranges Dress from Megan Nielsen. It's my favourite dress silhouette which is a fitted bodice and a gathered skirt but first let's talk about my fabric choice...
This adorable floral 100% cotton caught my eye the second that I saw it. Firstly I cannot ignore a pretty floral, and secondly I fell for the dusky mauve base/background colour which is really unusual. The floral colours are an eye catching mustard, purple and green and when the fabric arrived it was everything that I was expecting and more!
The photographs that I've included for this post were taken in bright sunshine and we found it really difficult to show the fabric at it's true colour, but between these images and the one showing the fabric here on the Minerva site, I hope you will get the idea!
Don't forget the link to this fabric (and the pattern) will be at the end of this blog post.
The Darling Ranges shirt dress has a size range of 0-20 (US size), with size 0 being a 32" bust, and size 20 a 46" bust. My measurements are 35-29-39 and with these measurements sitting between sizes, and looking at the finished dress sizes, I chose to cut a size 8.
The dress was easy to sew, and the instructions include lots of tips and notes to help you get the most out of this pattern.
I particularly liked the way that the neckline was finished with bias tape and the clever way that this was joined to the button placket.
I made my usual pocket adjustment, ( I'm only 5'2") which was to raise the height of the pocket placement. In this case by 1".
The bodice is cinched in at the back with ties which are sewn to the outside of the back of the dress. These ties are quite short and I have seen a lot of reviews online on this pattern mentioning that they were too short. I liked the fact that they were short as I enjoyed how they are simply tied in a double knot, with no extra length necessary. If you prefer to tie your ties in a bow, then you might want to cut them double the length.
The sleeve length is pretty and sits in the nook of your elbow. The fullness is just perfect in my opinion and I made sure my elastic was nice and loose as there's nothing more uncomfortable than a tight elastic sleeve cuff.
I decided to use 8 buttons instead of the 9 mentioned on the notions list for this pattern. Eight buttons are used on the pattern pictures and line drawings and this looked just right to me. Because 6 x buttons are marked on the skirt pattern piece, and I only wanted to sew 5, I decided to mark the placement of the top one and the bottom one and space the remaining 3 at regular intervals inbetween.
What I would mention is that the placement of the bottom buttonhole on the skirt piece is really low. After you have turned up your skirt the 2.5" that is required, you will find that the bottom button and buttonhole sit right at the bottom. In future I will ignore the bottom button placement and place the 5 x skirt buttons on every marking except the lowest one. Even if I were using 6 buttons I would not use the lowest buttonhole marking for this reason.
I used buttons from my stash for this but don't forget the huge choice of buttons on the Minerva site if you don't already have some at home.
All in all though I absolutely love this pretty dress, which I am excited to wear now that the warmer weather is finally here (fingers crossed).
Thank you to all at Minerva for this beautiful fabric.
Take care and I'll be back soon,
Kathy x
@Sew Dainty
#MinervaBrandAmbassador #Minervamakes #Minervamakers #summerdress #summerstyle #darlingranges #mndarlingranges #darlingrangesdress #megannielsenpatterns #megannielsen #floraldress #floralcotton #prettydress #sewover50 #isew #memade #memadeeveryday #handmadedress #ilovesewing #sewingismyyoga #sewist #sewcialists #floralfabric #minervafabric #imadethis #thanksimadeit