I love Califabric’s Double Brushed Polyester! It is an unbelievably soft fabric, and has a lovely drape for a maxi dress. Califabrics has so many lovely prints which would all be suitable for a this type of dress.
My best friend and I live in different cities, so we try to get together each year for some girl time. This year we choose New Orleans as our meet up, and what better way to scream “BFF” to the world than matching dresses? Cheesy, I know, but the opposing colors with similar prints made these dresses just different enough.
You may notice that the length of my bodice is 1.5″ longer than Celia’s to accommodate my longer torso. Likewise, her skirt is 2.5″ longer to accommodate her height.
Here are some techniques used in constructing these two dresses:
-I used 1/4″ elastic on the waistband. I first used a chain stitch to attach the elastic in the round to the already-overlocked waist seam. Then I folded the elastic down and top stitched the elastic from the front side to keep it in place (you can see the back side of that chain stitch here). A chain stitch is made with a special machine, but if you don’t have access to one, you can use a zig zag stitch to achieve a similar stretch.
-To create a crisp V on the neckline, I first had to stitch the neck band with a chain stitch on about 2″ of either side of the V. This allowed me to stitch right up to the bottom of the V, clip the front of the dress to my needle point, and pivot to continue stitching. Then, when overlocking the neck band to the neck, I started at one end of the V and continued all the way around to the other side. This allows me to bind the edge with an overlock, but achieve accuracy at the point of the V.
-For the hem I used a cover stitch machine, which has two needles on top and loopers (like an overlock machine) on the underside. An easy way to create a similar look with a domestic machine is to use a twin needle.
The best part about these dresses (or any garment made with a double brushed knit) is that they are so pack-able! No wrinkles means you can cram this baby in your suitcase and wear it throughout your vacation!
