Today we have Abbey of Sew Charleston showing off her Catalina dress – I am DROOLING over the fabric she used! Read on for details.
I’m so excited to be writing my first post as part of the Blank Slate Patterns Sewing Team! I had a hard time choosing which pattern to sew. I narrowed my choices down to the Shoreline Boatneck and the Catalina dress. I ended up choosing the Catalina Dress, because I really wanted a project for this beautiful cotton lawn by Cotton and Steel that I’ve had my eye on since it’s debut.
The Catalina Dress can be sewn with knit fabric or a woven fabric with nice drape. You can also choose between maxi length or knee length and cap sleeves or sleeveless. Gotta love a pattern with lots of options!
I really wanted to sew the maxi length, but this fabric was a little pricey for only being 45 inches wide, so I settled with knee length. Since I’m back to work and summer is coming to an end I went with the cap sleeves.The neckline and armholes are finished with bias tape, but since my fabric was pretty sheer I decided to fully line my dress with a cotton voile. I used my beloved "hot dog" method to easily line the bodice. My favorite detail of the dress is the drawstring waistline. I'm a big fan of a drawstring at the waist, but have surprisingly not come across any other dress patterns with this detail.
The Catalina dress is an easy sew and I would highly recommend it as a good beginner project!
