Hi, Eveline from Froelein Tilia here and I’m sharing my version of the Catalina Dress with you guys today!
This month’s blog theme is “Impulse Sewing.” Where do you align yourself: Are you a planner or more of an impulsive seamstress? I love to make plans. But when it comes to the point to put the plan into action, I often turn the whole thing upside down.
This time I had the impulse to sew a summer dress. For a long time, I really wanted to have a Catalina Dress in my wardrobe. It’s such a cute, versatile pattern and perfect for these hot summer days. It comes in three different lengths: Above the knee, below the knee, or maxi length. You can sew the top with cap sleeves or as a tank top. I decided to go for an above-the-knee length and cap sleeves.
Now, I just had one tough question to answer: What fabric should I use? The pattern is designed for knit or lightweight woven fabrics. So, I was walking up and down in front of my sewing stash. It’s actually not that huge, but don’t ask my husband for his opinion! After discussing the situation with my sewing buddies, I decided to use a gorgeous cotton lawn by Cotton + Steel. I love this funny print and the fabric is lightweight, but not sheer.
I made one small change to the pattern: Instead of the visible pockets I added inseam pockets, since I didn’t want to interrupt the print.
I wanted to give the dress a chic twist and added some glitter piping to the neckline and the cap sleeve.
There were only a few inches of the piping left and I thought of throwing it away, since it was too short for another project. I’m glad, I didn’t… I managed to cut into the fabric just above the waistline while I was ripping up a not-so-perfect seam. I mended the tear and sewed the piping on top of it to hide it.
Finally, I approached the moment of truth and tried on my octopus dress. The fit of the skirt is great, but the top is slightly too small. The armholes and the back are slightly pulling. I guess I shouldn’t have eaten that much ice-cream this summer…
Or even more likely: I should have been less impulsive and more of a planner. Measure twice, cut once, as I remember reading somewhere.
Lesson learnt. I turn wiser and wiser with every sewing project and perhaps one day, I will even start to plan my sewing projects!