Made By A Fabricista: Peach Skin Penny Dress

Have you ever lost your sewjo, or just taken a long break from sewing after a really hard project? After spending months altering a wedding dress, I just needed a bit of a break from sewing. Alterations are not my cup of tea, so I treated myself to a well-deserved few weeks off.

After my sewing hiatus, I was ready to jump back in with a new sewing pattern I hadn't made before. The Sew Over It Penny Dress has been on my "have to make" list for a long time so it seemed like the perfect pattern to help me ease back into my usual sewing routine.

After browsing the Fabric Mart website for the perfect fabric for my Penny Dress, I noticed this beautiful black, shadow blue, and off-white floral peach skin fabric. If you haven't worked with or worn peach skin fabric, you need to get some right away! It is the softest, most delightful fabric ever! It's lightweight and has a beautiful drape, but isn't see-thru!

In addition to my peach skin fabric, I also ordered some elastic, black pellon fusible interfacing, and the cutest little Kylie and the Machine labels! I've been eyeing up the "Circa 2022" labels for a while because I love the idea of dating my makes to be able to look back and know what year my me-mades are from!

I didn't make any alterations to the Penny Dress pattern because I liked the way the pattern looked straight off of the printer. Since the bodice isn't very fitted and doesn't have darts or princess seams, I didn't even have to do a small bust adjustment. It's fun when you get to just sew a pattern without alterations!

Everything went well while I was sewing my Penny dress until I went to insert the collar. The collar seemed to be about 3 sizes too large to fit into the bodice neckline and it just wasn't going to work! In an effort to try to fix whatever mistake I unknowingly made, I watched the free online Penny Sew Along. Unfortunately, it didn't help me discover what was wrong with the collar.

Next, I joined the Sew Over It Facebook Group hoping that I would find another person who made the same collar mistake that I made. After a few searches of group posts, I found someone sharing about their issues with fitting the collar into the neckline. Thanks to this post, I discovered that I left out an important pattern piece in the bodice. I completely forgot to add the shoulder panel pieces that attach to the front and back bodice. No wonder the neckline and collar didn't fit!

Feeling a bit like a crazy person and wondering how on earth I could have missed this important pattern piece, I spent about 30 minutes seam ripping in order to add these pieces to the bodice. Have you ever left out an entire pattern piece? I'm still not entirely sure how I managed that, but I'm so grateful for Facebook sewing community group members and their help!

Once I added the shoulder panel pieces back in, the whole project came together really easily. It also came together rather quickly after the shoulder panel hiccup. I picked some beautiful mother of pearl buttons from my button stash, added my Kylie and the Machine label to the back facing, and attached the full circle skirt.

I love how easy to wear this Penny Dress is. With the elastic waistband, loose-fitting bodice, and lightweight peach skin fabric, it could easily become my favorite dress to wear for hot summer days!

It feels great to be back today sharing a new make with you after what feels like one of the longest stretches I've gone without sewing! Now that my sewjo is back, I know I'll be sewing up a storm in the new few weeks, perfect for using more of my Kylie and the Machine labels!

SHAINA | @shaina_sews