Hey there! I’m Jillayne and I usually share my creations on Hazelnut Handmade. But today I’m excited to be here sharing my Holiday Edition of the Pocketful of Posies Dress (aff link) with you! It’s festive, versatile, and forgiving. Who wouldn’t love a dress like that during the Holidays?
We all know how the holiday season is filled with family, traditions, and well…food! And while I want to look good at office parties, church, and family gatherings, I also want to enjoy myself without worrying about how my waist looks! Thankfully, loose swing dresses are really popular right now. But this loose dress is an elegant one and the cranberry color is festive without screaming Christmas. I’ll be able to wear it all winter long and feel appropriate for all sorts of holidays.
This gorgeous knit cranberry eyelet fabric had to be lined, so I picked up some black rayon spandex from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. I cut out two of just about all the pieces and layered the cranberry eyelet on top of the black rayon spandex. Now my mother taught me to always baste the layers together in situations like this, so the layers act like one layer and don’t slide around. I’m telling you, she is one wise woman. Slick, stretchy fabric can be hard to sew, but adding double the layers to manage is even more challenging. Baste, my friends.
The only place I didn’t line the knit eyelet was the pocket lining. I only used the rayon spandex. And because of that, I get these awesome black accents along the front pockets. They are visually interesting and really bring in the black bands and binding.
After lining the cranberry eyelet with the rayon spandex, I sewed the dress up according to instructions. Originally, I intended to leave off the bottom band and cut my dress longer to compensate. But after I used the black rayon spandex for the neck and arm bands I felt visually, the dress needed the black band on the bottom too. I chopped a bit of length off and added a slightly narrower band than the instructions call for. Honestly-because I was squeezing this out of 2 yards, and that’s all I had left by then.
Some thoughts after making this dress.
Both the knit cranberry eyelet and rayon spandex are very stretchy with excellent weight. If I had wanted to, I’d have been able to make this dress with just the black rayon spandex and it would have been beautiful-and not transparent. However, the two layers make my dress a tad heavy. To compensate, I cut the neckband 2 inches shorter.
The pattern suggests sizing down when using very stretchy fabrics. I chose not to because I have wide shoulders and wanted the width across the shoulders to fit better. This worked well for me, but may not for someone with more average shoulders.
You can’t beat how comfortable this dress is! (aff link)
It’s flattering (elbow length sleeves are so elegant!), effortless (yes, I just threw this on but have pockets for essentials), and forgiving (because holiday foods seconds are hard to resist). Plus the pattern includes a shorter length in case you like to show a bit more leg…
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