Made By A Fabricista: Batch Sewing Wardrobe Basics: Simple Winter Dresses

Hello Sewing Friends!

I hope everyone is enjoying a great start to their new year. This is often the time that many of us sit and set goals and plans for what we want to accomplish during the year. I know I've set my goals for all aspects of life and I'm excited about what I have set as goals specifically with sewing. Now I am still on my mission to sew chic yet comfortable clothes, given my current work from home situation. In 2022, I plan to replace many of my Ready to Wear items in my closet that are out of style or don't fit well with handmade items. I have several very comfortable and casual dresses that I am just not that excited about. So for this Fabricista project, I decided to batch sew several replacment dresses. I really like batch sewing patterns that are tried and true. I took a leap on the pattern that I chose because it was new to me. But I could tell by the cover that this would be a great option for the simple yet stylish dress I was going for.

I picked my fabrics before I chose my pattern, actually. I originally planned to batch sew this top that I'm currently obsessed with. But once the fabrics arrived, I knew I wanted to make dresses and not tops. So I looked through my patterns and found this recently purchased one. It was perfect for what I had in mind. I chose Knits from Fabric Mart's Italian Collection and boy were there so many amazing options. I order 2 yards of each fabric so that would prevent me from going to my beloved wrap dress pattern as an option.

I decided to test the pattern with a fabric that I wasn't quite sure about. It was a bit bolder than I thought it would be. It turned out so fun!

I had a bit of fabric left, so I turned it into an infinity scarf. I've been doing that with my remnants of fabric instead of just putting them in a bin and never using them! They are a great fashion accessory, universally flattering and so quick and easy to make.

It was a little big, so I cut one size smaller for the remaining dresses. I did not make any alterations to the pattern. I am 5'8" and the length was perfect for my taste. It is a very easy dress to sew. You have 5 pieces-dress front and back, neckline facing, and a two piece raglan sleeve. The raglan sleeve does have some gathering. The sleeve is the only part that might not be beginner friendly, but if you can do gathering stitching, you can make this dress. .

I really love all 5 versions of the dress. Again, when I had remnant fabric, I made scarves. The dress takes less than 2 yards to make for my size, but for the two prints where I did not have fabric left to make scarves, it is because I cut the pieces across the grain. They were 4-way stretch prints, so I decided to run the fabric design vertically instead of horizontally. I have plenty of scarves in my closet to style them with and they look great with lovely necklaces as well.

I am thrilled with these 5 new dresses being added to my handmade wardrobe.

I do have plans to make one more. I want a solid black one. I have been trying to avoid my go-to solid black, but I do think this would be a great basic dress to add to my wardrobe as well.

What do you all think about this pattern and the fabrics I used? Do you have a favorite? Have you tried this pattern before? Do you like to batch sew basics? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks so much for hanging out as I share my latest Fabricista makes. I'll see you again soon with another sewing project-or five!

Happy sewing,