Hello!

I was so happy to receive this Lady McElroy Amerilis Cotton Lawn Dress Fabric several weeks ago. The colors of the flowers, the flower print and most of all the smoothness and hand of the fabric are so nice. My husband is Dutch and I like to find and sew fabrics with tulips on it.

I chose to make a Kew Dress by Nina Lee. I had not previously made anything from this pattern company. I am 61.5”/156cm in height and held the front bodice and the front skirt piece up to myself in the mirror and made a guess on how much to shorten each. I shortened the bodice by ¾” and the skirt by 1.5”.

I was somewhat hesitant to add the cold shoulder sleeves because I like to wear my handmades for years and thought the cold shoulder sleeves would look too trendy (ie out of trend) over time. I am thrilled I decided to use the cold shoulder sleeves because this feature in addition to the high-low skirt hem make this pattern special and elegant. Search the hashtags #kewdress or #ninaleekewdress on Instagram and you can see (literally) thousands of different Kew Dresses. Also, there have been many Kew Dress makes featured on Minerva – just search the hashtag #ninaleekewdress!

This cotton lawn fabric is fairly thin (though not thin enough to require a slip...I wore black underwear in the photos in this post and thankfully it doesn’t show through) and I recently saw a tip on Instagram stories (who was it that provided this tip??) where you stagger your clips (pie shaped notches on convex curves) in the two seam allowances so the clipped/notched space doesn’t show through on the right side of the fabric. In the above photo, I am pointing at a spot where I made a pie shaped notch in one seam allowance...the cut area doesn’t show through right?

The pattern calls for 15 buttons down the center front. I had 12 white dome buttons and was able to get away with using a lower number of buttons probably because I had shortened the bodice and the dress. Sometimes it does pay to be short(er)! In the above photo, you can see that I mark my buttonhole locations with a red pencil which washes away easily.

I am happy with my floral cotton lawn Kew Dress! Aren’t the print and colors stunning?

The side view shows the high-low hem design of the skirt.

In the above 3 close-ups of the bodice, you can see the area above the top button pulls or collapses. I asked for help and advice for next time and it seems I could have interfaced this area more. The pattern calls for interfacing the facing but not the main bodice under the buttons and buttonholes. In the future, if using a lightweight fabric like this cotton lawn, I will add interfacing behind the buttons and buttonholes. One more thing, the above 3 pictures were taken a few days before the rest of the pictures in this post -- I noticed my red pencil marks for the buttonhole locations shows in the pictures. I had to wash my dress, iron and re-take pictures.

I used my blind-stitch on my sewing machine to stitch down my back facing. The stitches show on the right side so I will remove these stitches and put in a few hand stitches.

Thanks for reading this post about my floral cotton lawn Kew Dress.

-Bernice

#minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isewmyclothes #diyclothes #dressmaking #fabricinspo #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #memadefashion #diyfashion #diywardrobe #fashionsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewingpatterns #ninaleepatterns #kewdress #sewingdresses #sewingsummerdresses #summersewing #florals #sewingwithlawn #lawnsewingprojects #brightsewing #ladymcelroy #ladymcelroyfabrics