Hello! I’m quite excited to be back to share about a project that I’ve made in a lovely 100% linen fabric from Minerva. I’ll share up front that I absolutely love sewing and wearing 100% linen fabrics. It’s comfortable to wear, breathable in the summer, and is stable to sew with. I have to admit that this is my first time sewing with a print-on-demand fabric. One aspect that’s unique about POD prints is the fabric is printed along the length of fabric that you order. For this project, I requested around 3 meters of fabric. If you order a length of fabric that matches the project that you need, the print isn’t interrupted through the length (as some prints are). It's a hand option when you're making a longer garments and you want a unified look to the print.

For the pattern, I wanted to come back to one that I've made before. I went a dress with Simplicity 8232, by Sew House 7. This Simplicity sourced pattern is a variation of the Mississippi Ave dress by SH7. I like to share that in case you want to make this dress but don’t have access to the original Simplicity version, you can check out the Mississippi dress pattern instead. This dress is really comfortable to wear. In the previous version that I made, I used a Chambray fabric and wore it a lot while traveling.

Pattern notes:

Size: 12/14

Version: A

Sleeve: Short sleeve

Length: Midi length

Size:

Bust: 34”

Natural Waist: 27”

Mods:

Pockets - The original pattern didn’t include pockets but they’re quite easy to add. You could draft your own pockets, download a free pocket pattern online or use pocket pattern pieces from another pattern. I went with the latter and re-used the pockets from the Sew House 7 Sauvie Sundress. With the pattern including multiple seam options, I inserted hidden pockets into the side seams. The fabric is a medium weight linen so I decided not to add interfacing to the pockets.

Tea Length - I wanted to extend the length of the dress for a full length option. To quickly decide on the new length, length between two patterns (this one and another longer dress that I've made before). I extended the pattern pieces for this dress by +7.75”.

Simplicity pattern dress length, 46”

Montavilla Dress length, 53.75”

This might sound obvious but if you’re going to change a pattern, make sure you adjust the amount of materials that you buy as well. If you’re going to lengthen a dress, you’ll need to buy more fabric than is recommended in the pattern. I’ve not connected this detail many times in knitting and sewing patterns and admittedly I love changing up patterns a bit (so I keep reminding myself this note as well).

The width of the fabric is 55”. This is also helpful to note that a wider width fabric gives you more fabric to work with so you may need to buy less.

I enjoyed using my serger with this project. I serged around the edges of the cut pattern pieces before sewing. It’s an extra step but I love having the inside of a dress finished with a serger.