Crafting A Rainbow

August is Sew Style Hero month over on the Sewcialists, and just like last year, I can’t narrow it down to just one inspiration. Last year’s version of the same theme, then called Tribute Month, gave me one of my all time favourite dresses: my Oona-inspired Verticla stripe maxi!

This year I’m back with more vertical stripes, and another inspiring sewist: Pauline from @sewuthinkucan ! Pauline is part of the Sewcialists group on Facebook, and she can sew stripes like no one else. Luckily, she does lots of tutorial on her blog, so it’s easy to copy her technique!

Pauline made this amazing statement dress free for our Sewcialists Sew Stripes theme in February, and I’ve been thinking of it ever since. I’ve never tried statement sleeves before, but I really loved these! The lantern sleeve is made from a normal short sleeve, a semi-circle half-donut shape, and a rectangle gathered with elastic at the hem. It was easy to self-draft, and so effective.

Like Pauline, I sewed my dress out of a thin sweater knit, so it needed to be lined. I used a scrap of ITY from my mom – thankfully the busy print doesn’t show through! Lining the bodice with something stable and slithery really helps everything to sit soothly front and back. I didn’t line the sleeves.

What else can I say? I know Pauline pins her stripes carefully to get everything perfect, but I decided just to focus on getting the stripes lined up at the same point on front and back, and hoping for the best. Amazingly, it actually worked out quite well, with a bit of tweaking as I sewed the seams!

In some ways, this dress feels quite bold… but on the other hand, it’s firmly in my wheelhouse: knee length knit dress? Yes please! I will be quite happy strutting through school in this, and probably showing everyone who comments how the sleeves are made! What can I say, sewing details are fun!

(Looking at the pictures, I do realise I need to topstitch the neckline so the lining doesn’t show… but hopefully you were so mesmerized by stripes that you didn’t notice that!)

Thanks Pauline, for constantly inspiring me with your Instagram feed, and for letting me copy your dress! I feel great in it and it’s so fun to wear!

There is still a week more to participate in #SewStyleHero month – just put a spin on any project you are working on that is inspired by a sewist, celebrity, or anyone else you admire! Almost everything I make is inspired by someone in one way or another – How about you?