Minerva was very brave and let me loose with some SILK! I think this is one of the fanciest fabrics I have ever used. Poppy Passion is a mix of 95% silk and 5% elastane which gives it that amazing bit of stretch where you need it making for a great fitting garment. 🌺

The fabric itself is absolutely stunning – the colours, the painterly design and the hand feel are just wonderful.

As this is silk, I used a microtext needle in a 70/12 as it was the finest one I had available at home.

A special fabric deserved a special pattern and therefore I chose to make the brand new Alameda Dress by Nina Lee.

If you haven’t seen this pattern, it is incredible and does some sort of magic. The dress is bias cut, with a separate bodice piece which is pleated and slightly cowled giving a beautiful drape. I was lucky enough to be a pattern tester for this pattern and I cannot wait to make more. For my first garment, I cut a 16 top and 18 bottom, grading between the two sizes and made zero changes to the pattern. Don’t you just love it when that happens.

I always thought bias cut would be clingy and just highlight my stomach but it seems to work just right. It doesn’t even need a zip!

The dress lends itself to summer wear, events and also it would make a wonderful Christmas party dress in satin or velvet…Ooooo.

Cutting this fabric felt very luxurious. I was careful to cut out in a single layer, and even pin my pieces (whaaaaat, usually I just hold pattern pieces down with whatever is around me at the time – cans of soup, tv remote, a tortoise….)

Despite being silky and delicious, the fabric was surprisingly cooperative to work with. Fine needle and a walking foot and off you go.

Construction of the dress doesn’t take too long as its just 6 pieces and straps. 4 of those pieces are the lined bodice, which gets neatly stitched to the waist seam so there are no raw edges showing or sitting against your skin.

The straps I chose to modify slightly by making then adjustable and popping in some bra sliders and rings. I love doing this on strappy clothing as they always slip off my slopey shoulders, at least this was I can tighten and adjust accordingly and account for being a bit uneven.

I love the drape of the back skirt and how it sits into the dip of my back. No swayback adjustment needed it just does its thing.

A further adjustment I made on this dress was to add a little front slit and some pleats across the midriff just for some extra detail…and well, to just try it really. I took the original front pattern piece, cut 2/3 of the way across it, then used the slash and spread method to add the pleats/gathers. Voila, new front pattern pieces.

I tried to do Sew Shown Seated and got carried away and being all extra like I was Marilyn F’ing Monroe. That is how good that dress feels.

Whilst I don’t think this colour does me any favours, I really enjoyed the process of trying anew pattern and a new fabric substrate, learning all sorts of new tips and tricks along the way.

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