If you’ve talked to me about fabric, you probably know that Lizzy House is my all time favorite fabric designer. If you talked to me much as a child, you might know that I’m pretty crazy about dinosaurs. So when I found out a few months back that Lizzy House was designing dinosaur fabric, it was a really good day. When I got some advance yardage in the mail from Andover fabrics, it was a better day. And now that I have an awesome dino dress, it is a pretty fantastic day!
This fabric is part of Lizzy House’s new Natural History line, and the butterfly collar is one of Lizzy House’s butterfly prints which are now available in a range of colors. Go check it out – every single print is amazing. There are definitely more Natural History garments in my future.
Fussy cutting has always been one of my favorite quilty things, so I get pretty excited about having a chance to fussy cut fabric for garments. Check out those butterflies!
Another version of fussy cutting I go giddy for on garments is pattern matching. Zipper success!
About the dress itself: This is another Emery dress, but this time sleeveless and with a collar. The pattern includes a pointed collar – I just rounded out the edges because I thought it’d look better with the butterflies
I did a FBA this time, which really helped with tightness across my back. I’ve never thought of that as something I would need – but it helped a ton. I used thistutorial – it was a breeze! In addition to the FBA, I widened the darts on the upper back by about 1/2″ each and did my usual lengthening of the bodice by about 1.5″. I also make my pockets quite a bit deeper than the pattern piece (no picture, but they’re purple butterflies too!)
The Emery dress does not include instructions for a sleeveless version. In the past, I’ve used bias tape or hacked an unlined bodice. This time, I followed this tutorial for finishing a sleeveless, lined bodice – it was a bit finicky near the shoulder seam (I think because of the stiff collar) – but it worked beautifully!
Dress Specs:
Pattern: Emery Dress from Christine Haynes
Modifications: added 1.5″ length, FBA adjustment with 3/4″ spread, widened upper back darts by 1/2″ each, and left off sleeves
Size: 6
Fabric: Lizzy House Dino Exhibit in Navy. Find it here.
Oh man I love this dress! As soon as I saw this fabric I wanted to make a dress for my 3 year old daughter, but she wants the butterflies instead…so then I was like, hmm I should make one for me! It would be like a Ms Frizzle dress! I love your version, and it looks like it fits you really well. And the blue dinos coordinate with your hair!
Great pattern matching with the zipper.
How do you get the perfect zipper match??? It’s so flawless. Not even in my wildest dreams could I get something so perfect.
I’ve been meaning to do a tutorial on this – it’s surprisingly simple! Keep your eye out for one soon 🙂
This dress is gorgeous!!
What a fantastic dress!! It looks great and I love how some of the dinos match your pretty hair 🙂
What an adorable dress! I’m always really jealous of how clean your sewing is – and you’re just too cute!
Melody
http://www.bourbonandbras.blogspot.com
Holy cannoli, that is some insane pattern matching! O_o Wowee!
Hey! This is an aweeeeesome dress and I think i’ve fallen in love with it. With regards to the fabric, is there any difference between this (is it quilting cotton?) and say a shirt? Is it soft or stiff? I know this is a lot of questions but i really want to make a dress from it now and will have to spend a load on shipping for the fabric.
Thank you 🙂 and your blog is great!
Rachel,
This is quilting cotton. It is not as stretchy as a typical shirt, and perhaps a bit stiffer, but still comfortably soft. Hope that helps!