Double Gauze is normally associated with either childrens clothing or delicate baby blankets. When I ordered 4 metres in to see if I could turn it into a beautiful dress for my holiday to Sri Lanka, I knew I would be in for a treat!

This beautiful fabric is the Minerva Core Range Cotton Double Gauze in Dusty Blue colourway. When I opened the package, I was in awe of the shade of blue - a sort of faded, vintagey vibe that would be perfect for a long, flowy dress. When I prewashed the fabric as I normally do, I noticed a beautiful texture to it and it follows the grain. These would definitely create lovely lines down the length of the garment.

The pattern

I have only sewn the jumpsuit versions of the Shelby pattern by True Bias so I thought it was a good time to sew a dress version of it. I went with the full length version of the dress for the holiday. I already had the pattern cut out and filed away so it was half the battle won. I knew the sizing was perfect. The one change that I made was to move the neckline up by about 1.5 inches but I felt it was still too low when I wore it. Maybe I will do 2.5 inches in the future.

The sew

It might be a surprise when you are cutting and serging the fabric pre-sew that the fabric sheds alot. Don't worry! It stops when you serge. During the sewing process, the fabric didn't shed at all. I dont think this fabric is suitable for french seams, a technique that I usually prefer in my garments. They might end up being too bulky because of the double layer of each fabric sheet.

The sew is fairly straightforward but the only thing I was nervous about was the bulk in the placket. How I overcame this was to use webbing to bind the layers instead of stitching it in. I had to be careful not to actually press it to avoid destroying the beautiful texture. Instead I hovered my steam iron over it to induce enough heat to melt the webbing. Shortcut that led to a beautiful and seamless (literally) finish to my button placket. Hehe

I just want to summarise by saying how beautiful and effortless the maintenance of this fabric is. I was worried that the fabric will be a tricky one to iron, especially since I did not pack along my portable steam iron for the holiday. So what I did on that particularly chilly morning was to run the shower extra hot and let the steam build up in the enclosed shower space and I left the dress hanging there for ten minutes. It was a shot in the dark but it worked a charm! All the creases had eased out and I was left with the gorgeous weave texture accentuated with the steamed vapour. Try this neat hack with your double gauze! You will not be disappointed!

#minervabrandambassador #minervamakers #sewingwithgauze #sewungwithdoublegauze #sewnshownseated

#minervabrandambassador #minervamaker #minervabrandambassadors #minervamakers #sewwithcotton #holidaysews #handmadewardwobe #adresstoimpress