I couldn’t be bothered to dodge the rain showers today so took the time to finish my latest Minerva project. The asymmetric dress from butterick B6771.
It’s my first time using the Minerva recycled polyester soft twill. This is what I’ve found using this fabric:
* Being 100% recycled polyester it has a very similar silky feel to a crepe fabric
* It’s a little heavier than I thought it would be, but it’s still really drapy
* It washed and ironed well with no noticeable shrinkage. I air dry my fabric so can’t comment on how it will tumble dry.
* I cut out using my rotary cutter, but I would suggest using a new sharp blade as any misses in the cut will result in pulls and these would show as white pulled threads through the print.
* Similarly it’s important to use a new fine needle for the same reason.
* I had to be very careful careful with my pins as if it caught on the fabric it did pull noticeable white threads
* It does fray a fair bit so it would be worth overlocking/serging any bits that will be handled a lot before sewing.
* Being polyester it doesn’t press to a sharp crease, but it does press ok and keeps a crease.
* I did lower my iron to a medium heat, definitely not a fabric for a very hot iron.
* The fabric is white on the reverse side so that needs to be taken into account when deciding on a pattern. Although my dress is asymmetrical the bottom is on a double fold so I think I’ve got away with it. Without this pattern feature you would have seen the white back in the folds.
As for this print, it’s the Terrance Williams Oil spill in the Inferno colourway. There is also a blue and purple colourway if you like the print but don’t want anything as bright as this one!
There isn’t any pattern repeat so I had to try and balance the print as best I could. I really wanted the yellowy orange part to form the bodice section and the purple at the bottom.
It was fun trying to choose thread and buttons so many colours would work with. I chose an orange thread and coral buttons, but equally yellow looked ok too.
As for the pattern, it’s a very simple shirt dress, but so as to not cut into the print I omitted the front panel and the back seam. I just stuck the pattern pieces together allowing for the seam allowance.
I’m only 5 foot and didn’t shorten it in anyway so it might be a bit short on anyone taller. Due to the shape of the hemline any adjustments have to be done around the hip line it can’t just be added to the bottom. There is no lengthen/shorten line on the pattern so you have to place where you think best.
Really happy with my dress and it’s definitely one for a sunny day due to its bright colour 😁 fingers crossed the sun will stay out for longer than it did the last few days.
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