Jaybird Quilts

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Staple Dress Review & Giveaway

disclosure: this is a sponsored giveaway by April Rhodes Welcome to day #5 of The Staple Dress Blog Tour!

I purchased The Staple Dress pattern two months ago after seeing #thestapledress show up in photos on Instagram. I had made a dress back in 2009 and then another in 2011. I consider myself to have great piecing skills for patchwork, but I don't have much experience with garment sewing.

Everyone made it seem like this was a fun & simple to make dress.... they were right!!

When I purchased the pattern it was only available in PDF format. I printed off the pieces, taped them together, cut them out and dove right in.

My first staple dress.

My 2nd staple dress.

Here are my tips & tricks that I have found helpful along the way.

1. Start with finding fabric you really like. I choose to work with mostly Chambray & Knit in solid or almost solid colors. While I love big bold prints for my clothes, I know that isn't really my style for apparel.

These are all apparel fabrics from Robert Kaufman

A few good online shops for apparel fabrics.

Pink Chalk Fabrics

Hawthorne Threads

Sew to Speak

2. Wash your fabrics. Yes... pre-wash. In general I don't pre-wash my quilting fabrics, but since you are making a garment you want to pre-wash... trust me.

Sadly I skipped the pre-wash step here and was super excited (and rushing) to make this dress before Quilt Market. Needless to say after washing... it isn't a Maxi anymore and is tight in many places. (Note: The pattern doesn't include information on how to make it a Maxi. To make this one I lengthened the pattern at the "shorten & lengthen line" until the pattern piece was approximately the same length as a maxi dress I already owned.

3. Figure out what size you are and make the appropriate pattern pieces. I took my measurements & determined that I didn't fit into one size column. This is typical & luckily the Staple Dress is easy to adjust. My measurements were S Bust - M Waist - M Hip. I started by cutting the pattern to a Medium and then gradually cutting towards the Small line between the waist and bust area.

With patchwork I usually cut fabric with a rotary cutter. For this project I used my Cover Ultimate Shears. They are amazing for this project.

4. Read the pattern thoroughly. April does a great job at showing step by step photos & giving you options with your dress. I've made a variety & will show you them below.

The main choices you have to make...
Fabric selection
Straight hem vs. Drop hem
Pockets vs. No pockets

5. I used Wonder Clips vs. pins whenever I could.

6. This pattern is pretty simple & straight forward. The most "difficult" part is probably sewing with elastic thread, deciding where to add the shirring, and how many lines to add. Sewing with elastic thread isn't hard, it just is very different from sewing with regular thread. I added 3 lines of shirring to most of my dresses.

My Dresses

The Staple Dress can be worn with or without a belt, but I liked having a reason to get some awesome new belts from Anthropologie.

Straight hem, no elastic shirring, no pockets. Note: Without the shirring this dress can only be worn with a belt.
Fabric = Laguna Cotton Jersey by Robert Kaufman

Straight hem, pockets
Fabric = Indigo Chambray 4.5 by Robert Kaufman

Straight hem, no pockets

Fabric = Indigo Chambray 4.5 by Robert Kaufman

Drop hem, no pockets
Fabric = Laguna Jersey Heather by Robert Kaufman

Side by side fabric comparison for you. I didn't have the last dress finished while I wrote this blog post... but hopefully by the time you read this it is!

Ready for the giveaway??

One lucky reader will win a printed copy of The Staple Dress!

The Rules

1. Leave ONE comment to enter. Make sure your contact info is in your profile or that you leave it in the comment.

2. In your comment tell us what fabric you would use for your dress, which hem, and pockets or no pockets.

Example Comment:

I would make a dress from pink voile with a drop hem & no pockets.

3. Comment entries must be left on this blog, www.jaybirdquilts.com, to be valid. Comments sent via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media will not be counted.

4. Simple as that!!

~~You have till 9PM PST on Sunday the 14th to enter.~~

Giveaway now closed. Winner announced soon.

Winner will be selected by

True Random Number Generator.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Spring 2013 Quilt Market - Recap #3

I'm off to the airport to head to Sisters Oregon to teach for the next week. I have a few blog posts scheduled for you while I'm gone. To keep up with my live posts from the show follow along via Facebook or Instagram.

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My photos from Days #2 & #3 of the show floor of Quilt Market

Recap Post #1
Recap Post #2

With Cherri House of Cherry House Quilts