Well hello! Remember when I sewed this “perfect summer maxi” and declared you’d be seeing a lot more of them on the blog? Well, August hit and I hadn’t made another yet, so I decided this recently-purchased ITY should immediately become a dress.
I didn’t want the two dresses to be exactly the same (my closet is already full of repeats, so I’m not sure why it bugged me this time), so I gave this one a curved hem. Will anyone notice the difference? Probably not, but it’s a cute detail anyway!
As with the tunic I sewed for my Mom, I used the curved hem of the Seamstress Erin Ultraviolet Tee for the rounded shape. I almost never put patterns away, so my most recent ten patterns or so are usually strewn around the room in easy reach. It’s surprisingly useful to be disorganised!
Previously I’ve used a stripe of knit to finish the curved hem, but this time I felt lazy and opted to just hem it normally. I serged the curve first with the differential feed set to gather, which is a really easy way to ease a curved edge into a hem! I did a tutorial on it years ago, and it’s a technique I use all the time.
(Oh, by the way, I’m wearing one of my new bralettes under there! And for those following along, I did make a 4th with really wide band elastic and more seams for shaping… but the shape is off and the additional seam really shows through clothes, so I’m going to put aside bralette making for a while!)
As with the original, the bodice is a double-layered Jalie tank hack, and the skirt is the Closet Case Files Sallie. The inner bodice front came out a bit short this time, which pulls the front waist a little higher than ideal. I’ll try to remember to fix that next time.
I’ve been pretty obsessed with this shade of blue lately: my Tribute project robe, this dress, and one more tank to come! Have you favoured any specific colour this summer?
Crafting A Rainbow 
Your dress is very “summery” and the blue is a lovely colour on you. The print is busy enough that the problems in the “bralette” don’t show up in the photos. The curved hem is a nice touch, I like it!
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I love a busy print for camoflauging anything underneath! 😉
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Maybe your obsession with blue comes from the fact that it’s gorgeous on you! What colour perfection I must say with your hair and skin Gillian. Gorgeous dress – I like the empire shape on you – it doesn’t need a “fix” at all 🙂 You might want to try putting fusible thread in your lower looper when you’re serging along the bottom then you can just press it up and sew it (or not) down with your regular machine. Easy peasy 🙂
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That’s brilliant! I’ve never tried fusible thread – does it hold through the wash, or is it just for basting things into place?
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Love your new maxi. (Kathleen is correct that it looks like perfection on you!) I must say that is one of my favorite blues. I’m rediscovering navy blue as a new black for me. I “accidentally” created a wardrobe full this season. Most of which will translate into my fall wardrobe.
I wish we had sleeveless weather here in upstate New York. (The real upstate that’s spitting distance to Canada – not the 30 minutes from New York City “upstate”.) Then I could wear some summer clothing like your beautiful new maxi!
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Is it really that chilly in upstate New York? We’ve had a pretty nice summer here in Ontario – hot sometimes, cool sometimes, and very pleasant most of the time! (Ok while I’m sitting inside I’m almost always under a wool blanket, but at least it’s not the feather duvet that lives on the couch in winter! 😛 )
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Nice maxi dress using hacks. The color looks great on you.
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Thank you! I’m happy I managed to fit another dress like this in before I start sewing sensible fall clothes! 😛
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Cute! Summer dresses are awesome. I didn’t really have a chance to wear any this summer since I worked in a computer lab with faulty AC (read: sweatshirts in July) but yours is lovely! I love the lines of the back armholes.
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Oh goodness, that sounds like a cold place to be! Time for you to sew some snuggley cardigans then!
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What a beautiful dress. That shade of blue is lovely on you. I can see why you have been sewing a lot of it and I am sure that your lovely kimono would look great over the top of this when the weather gets cooler. I haven’t bought anything for Summer this year. My Summer go=to colour is pretty much the same as for every other season, Black! It is never too hot to wear it in the UK. 🙂 Xx
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My husband wears all-black, all the time – it’s definitely easy to coordinate!
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That colour and print looks lovely on you! You really suit that blouson style of dress.
I’ve been all about pink this summer. It feels good to be sewing and wearing it again.
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Pink is such a great colour! I wear a lot of hot pink (I”m wearing some right now!) but I just ordered some dusty rose fabric that I’m excited to sew up – haven’t worn that colour for a decade, but I used to like how it looked!
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Lovely! You look so happy in your new dress 🙂
Definitely going to try that overlocker trick when I next hem a curve!
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I love the differential feed – it’s so handy!
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Great dress! The curved hem is a nice touch – it’s fun to tweak TNT patterns a little bit each time.
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I could totally imagine you in this dress!
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Loving the curved hem here too. I wouldn’t have thought it would make a big difference on a maxi, but it really does. And what’s funny is that I don’t really love curved hems on shorter dresses. Taste is so fickle, isn’t it? Great color/print. And you’re so adorable in your pics.
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I like a curved hem… but it’s got to be just the right curve! Enough to be noticeable, not enough that it makes the hem indecent in one area but frumpy in others! 😛
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It’s gorgeous! I completely agree about making something just a bit different, even if it’s just the shape of the hem.
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