Thursday 24 July 2014

Arizona Moneta

I have made yet another Moneta dress, this time using some lovely thick jersey fabric designed by April Rhodes called Desert Blanket as part of her Arizona fabric collection.  The fabric is so lovely and soft to wear! 

Fabric

I love the colours in this fabric, so peachy  and refreshing.  This came from The Village Haberdashery.  I bought a separate piece of dark blue jersey from Lauren's shop for the collar and it matched perfectly!
I also bought enough fabric to make sure I could get a sensible pattern placement across the bodice, didn't want those bold blue flower shapes being placed anywhere embarrassing!   

I also went for twin needle stitching around the sleeve and skirt hems, I really love the way this looks, so stretchy and so much more satisfying to look at than my old zig zag line!

Stretch

I cut my first Moneta as a maxi dress and kept the pattern tracing to use again this time.  But I cut my black and white fabric with the stretch going up and down on the skirt, this time I cut it with the most stretch going horizontally, which has meant a huge difference in the length of the two skirts!  The vertical stretch means my black and white touches the ground, and my new Arizona is mid-calf!  Oh well, at least I'm not picking this one up to walk up stairs at least.
  

Final Thoughts

I really do like this pattern for tee-shirt fabrics.  On my second version I used a thicker knit fabric, the kind that is almost fluffy on the under side.  It is really lovely but it makes the bodice look like it is too short on me.  The weight of the skirt just isn't enough to stretch the bodice down to my normal waistline.  So in the future, if I make this again with a thick knit fabric, I'll be sure to lengthen the bodice by an inch.


And just because I find seeing the backs of garments so very informative when deciding if a pattern, a style or a fabric is for me, here is my Posterior for Posterity!  
  
And finally, my Mister's favourite shot too.

17 comments:

  1. Great fabric, great dress, and great photos! Let me know if you ever want to write something for the Curvy Sewing Collective - we'd love to have you! jenny@curvysewingcollective.com

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  2. Lovely! I am also really struck by how differently the same pattern can fit when used with different fabrics. You have made such awesome Monetas, I am truly impressed. I am trying to convince myself to make one out of a solid so that it will be more wearable, but I'm having a hard time, and all of your awesome pictures aren't helping!

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  3. Both of these dresses are really lovely. The scenery is very beautiful!

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  4. such a pretty print. i am planning one with this collar if i ever find the perfect navy and white striped knit that doesn't cost like £30 a metre!

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  5. Beautiful! Lovely photos too. I really like this dress on you. It suits you. X

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  6. Beautiful dress and beautiful pictures!

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  7. I love your dress, the fabric is gorgeous and it fits you so well! My 2 lady skaters are totally different because of the different amount of stretch in the fabric as well, the less stretchy one is a lot shorter!

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  8. I love it - well done for thinking about fabric placement - you're right, in the wrong place, that those splodges could have really ruined the dress! I have sewn very little lately but am itching to make the time for a long list of clothes, plus quilt plus so many other things! Juliex

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  9. Another fab dress! Really love the colours, gorgeous xx

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  10. Another great Moneta! You did such an excellent job with the pattern placing and even though I like the maxi length, the length on this is great as well!

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  11. Lovely dress Nessa!! Thanks for the tips on knit direction as well. I made a maxi dress that I have found "grows" as I wear it and I think I now know why! lol I actually hemmed mine a bit shorter. Interestingly... mine is also a striped knit and I wanted my stripes to go horizontally like yours...maybe that's something to consider the next time I buy striped knits.

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  12. Really lovely, well done you! I love that print. And I love how different you've made the two dresses look - they barely look like they're from the same pattern!

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  13. Another gorgeous make! You are slowly convincing me to try making clothes, maybe a skirt to start with.

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  14. Gorgeous dress, and love the photo shoot!

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  15. Fabuloso! I love the shots of you in the dress in the field, and I love that fabric line (have some in quilter's cotton, too). That dress is perfectly lovely--so glad you wrote about it!

    Elizabeth

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  16. Lovely dress Nessa, and great fabric choice!

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