Hello! I am excited to be taking part in the Itch to Stitch Holiday Blog Tour! This tour was put together by two inspiring seamstresses and bloggers Fleurine from Sew MarieFleur and Leslie from ThreadBear Garments. I have admired many of the patterns from Itch to Stitch for a while, but until this tour my only experience in sewing one was the sample of the Emily Culottes for the Indiesew shop. I was happy to finally get to try one for myself.
I decided to try the Idyllwild dress since I’ve really been wanting to make myself a knit dress along the lines of the awesome dresses from Sonnet James. I consulted with Michelle from Style Maker Fabrics, who was graciously supplying fabrics for the tour, and she suggested that I use this metallic twill weave ponte for my dress. The fabric is a nice heavy weight that I thought would be great for a more fitted dress. It’s really sparkly and festive– perfect for the holiday season!
This would have been a really quick sew, but I ran into some issues with fitting that took me a bit longer to (sort of) work out. I had a lot of pooling in my lower back and spent some time trying to adjust the back piece to minimize the pooling. The fabric requirements for the dress were generous so I was able to cut the back piece twice after doing a pretty major swayback adjustment. I still have some pooling in the lower back that I wasn’t able to completely fix. I think if I’d gone for a little bit looser fit maybe the pooling would have gone away, but I felt like this weight of fabric looked better when I made the dress more fitted.
I decided to finish the neck with a neck binding instead of the neckband included in the pattern. The binding worked really well and I think it looks a smidge fancier in my sparkly fabric. My coverstitch machine absolutely loved sewing this ponte, which was a pleasant surprise. I feel like I want to buy all the ponte now that I know how easy it was to sew!
Initially I figured I would wear this dress with black tights and heels but when I was reviewing the photos I felt like something was missing. The camera isn’t accurately capturing the fun sparkles on the fabric, and I felt like it really needed something. I was wishing for some accessories like a statement necklace or a thin belt. Then realized that I should just style it in a more Teri way. I threw on my jean jacket, changed into my boots instead of the shoes I couldn’t walk in, and added a flannel scarf (which is actually a fabric scrap that obviously needs to become a cowl!) I feel so much more comfortable and like myself this way! I am excited to wear this dress this season because it’s like glittery secret pajamas, which is really what we all need, right?!
As part of the tour Itch to Stitch patterns is offering 16% off patterns with the code Holiday16. Style Maker Fabrics is offering $5 shipping on all fabric (no code needed) and there is also a discount on international shipping.
Thank you so much to Kennis for supplying the Idyllwild pattern, to Style Maker Fabrics for supplying the fabric, and to Fleurine and Leslie for asking me to be a part of the tour! Be sure to check out the rest of the tour this week– I’ve seen some amazing sneak peeks from some of the other participants that have me wanting to squeeze in some more holiday sewing!
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~Teri
Fa Sew La 
Thank you so much for participating, Teri! Your dress looks lovely, and I think you’re totally right – second styling is so “Teri” and looks awesome!
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Thank you, Fleurine! I’m so glad you asked me to join the tour. I know the dress will get much more wear styled in a more casual way!
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Your dress looks great, Teri! I agree that it’s best when styled “The Teri Way”! It looks really cozy and cute with the jacket, scarf and boots!
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Thank you, Meg! I instantly felt more comfortable when I added the extra pieces!
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Love it! We all clearly need a glittery secret pajamas. When you went for being yourself that’s when it started to shine – so keep it up. There is, after all, only one of you.
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Thanks, Berte! I actually didn’t know that I needed glittery secret pajamas until I made this dress– but now it seems so obvious! 🙂 I’m glad I found a way to fit a sparkly dress into my everyday life!
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You dress turned out so pretty! I love the fabric and how you styled it. I agree, dresses like these are so comfy yet they look quite put together and elegant 🙂
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Thanks, Anya! I hope I can figure out how to get rid of the pooling in the lower back because I think I need a bunch more of this style of dress!
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Portia had some interesting insight on sway back adjustments on her blog. I believe she did a few posts on it 🙂 I am still to implement it though but it sounds very interesting
http://www.makery.uk/2016/02/fitting-sway-back-on-a-colette-laurel-pt-i/
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I love it! The jacket and scarf are a great match for the season as well!
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Thank you, Cassy! I was thinking of using that plaid fabric to make pj pants for one of my kids, but I’m pretty sure that I am going to keep it for myself and make a cowl or blanket scarf!
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This is such a great dress! I love the little bit of sparkle and you styled it perfectly!
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Thanks, Kimberly! It’s a great piece for looking put together and feeling really comfortable at the same time!
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This came out fabulously,Teri! And who doesn’t want secret pajamas that look fancy to everyone else? Great versatile piece here.
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Thanks, Abbey! It’s a lot more versatile than I thought I sparkly dress would be! I’m pleased that I’ll be able to wear it more casually than I originally planned.
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This dress is super cute, especially with the casual styling. I love a denim jacket and boots look! The back pooling really looks minimal, but if you haven’t seen it already, look for the swayback fix for knits from Pattern~Scissors~Cloth. She has you adjust the angle of the back shoulder seam to shorten the back length.
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Love both stylings! I should learn how to make a sway back adjustment.
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The dress looks great on you! I bought some of that fabric, too. Great idea to use it for this dress. I love how you styled it.
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What a beautiful dress and I love how you styled it!!
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The Teri styling is so great! I love it with the buffalo plaid and boots, perfect!
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