Made By A Fabricista: Sew House Seven Gathered Romey Dress in a red and black Linen/Rayon Heart fabric

Hello sewing friends! I am so excited to share my new dress with you on the Fabricista blog for Fabric Mart today. My name is Patricia, and you can follow me on Instagram at @Hoppaheedahoe. I chose to sew the Sew House Seven Romey Gathered Dress and Top. I selected to sew the longest dress version (#3) in the Off-White and Cherry Red/Black Linen/Rayon Large Heart Print Shirt Weight woven fabric. I wanted to purchase this fabric almost a year ago and it sold out. I was so happy to see it was back on Fabric Mart's site.

This fabric was a dream to sew! My favorite two fabrics are linen AND rayon, so a blend of these two fabrics is perfection. This pattern has a lot of ease, 7 inches for most sizes! I made the size according to my measurements and it is really big, but I love it. If you do not like a lot of ease, I would consider sizing down a few sizes and use the finished measurements to help you decide.

The Romey has a raglan, puffy sleeve that falls above the wrist, with a keyhole opening with a button and button loop closure. It is rated confident beginner, but it was really easy to sew with great instructions.

There are “half patch-half inseam” pockets that are optional. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want pockets, and these are fun to construct! I found the skirt assembly interesting with 4 panels, 2 side panels, 2 front/back panels. There are no side seams. Instead, there are 2 off-center front seams and 2 off-center back seams. The pocket edges are sewn into the front seams, then the other side and bottom seams are sewn like traditional patch pockets. You can easily change this to a conventional patch pocket if you find this too challenging. However, the picture illustrations and several you tube sew-alongs I found made this easy to construct.

I finished the hew using a blind hem. If you have not discovered the blind hem foot and stitch, I highly recommend it! You fold the fabric in such a way that the hem is noticeable on the inside (looks like a zig zag) but on the outside, only a few small stitches are seen and basically invisible. I really love how professional it makes my garments look and hang so beautifully!

And, of course I used French seams on the inside. This is my preferred method of finishing seams. This Sew House Seven pattern provided instructions on constructing this garment with French seams. So, if you want to learn how this technique, this pattern holds your hand and teaches you how. The center front seam is a flat felled seam, so here is another reason to try this pattern if you want to learn this method also. These are great techniques to learn and master so when you have a pattern with instructions that are lacking, you can use these skills to create professional looking garments.

Happy Sewing,

Patricia | @Hoppaheedahoe