A Sandra Betzina Dress

I've been absent from blogging for a while now. Two weeks ago, I lost a dear friend to a freak accident . It's been hard to continue with life's daily routine when  you've lost someone so dear to you.I don't have a lot of good friends but Beverley was one of the ones I do have. It's really hard to believe she's gone. I'll always miss her.

The past week has been especially trying because the province of New Brunswick was hit hard by Hurricane Arthur last Saturday. No lives lost but many, many trees uprooted and the loss of electricity and telephone service for many of us. Ours was finally restored last night . Thank God for NB Power and Quebec Hydro who came to our rescue.

I've had this dress made for a while now at the request of my sewing ladies who asked if it could be their summer project. They often look through my patterns and this Sandra Betzina pattern ,V1101, now out of print, really appealed to them. My version was the test to see if I thought they could handle it.

If anyone has this pattern and would like to join our Sew Along, I've documented the steps and will soon publish a series of posts of the various steps on Diana's Sewing Lessons.

Here is my version.

The two tone chevron effect was quite accidental. My fabric is a two tone linen, thus when I chenilled it, each side highlighted one of the two colours of the weave. I used white linen for the facing which shows behind the chenille work.

The back area is also suppose to be chenilled. Well this chenilling business was a lot of work and I soon decided that I would only do a few rows at the back. I'm satisfied with that. Actually, you wouldn't have to do any at all.

There was a lovely white fringed selvedge on one side of the fabric and a blue one on the other. I turned up a narrow hem on the dress and then zigzagged the selvedge to that. I love this little extra touch of white.

As for the pockets, I've used this style several times before and have a tutorial here. I omitted the zippers because I didn't have any on hand and thought that I'd prefer them open. Now I wish I had added them.

When I tried on the dress after basting the side seams , I thought there was too much fabric at the hips and it wasn't flattering. So I took away some of the fullness. I started at the hips , drew a new cutting line and finished by taking off  a wedge that was about 2" by the bottom of the skirt.

That worked nicely and is much more flattering.

This is how I will wear this dress to church

The photos give me a heavier look but in person,the dress doesn't add the pounds but is flattering ,I think.
This is the perfect summer dress to wear on those hot ,humid days of July.(like today )
For those of you who love the bias cut and who love linen, you would love this pattern.

Happy Summer Sewing to All !