O hello! I made a new dress… this is a pattern that I’ve had for years, and have only just got around to finally giving it a whirl. It’s the dp studio Le 905, or “dress with sporty details” and it’s pretty fun I think! Quite unique in all its details, and you really don’t see many of them in the sewing community. Since a major reason I sew is to have a unique wardrobe then I further reasoned that it was a good choice.
The gorgeous main fabric is this cotton plaid in the colour jade/red from Minerva. I really enjoyed sewing with this crisp, strong and sturdy and yet lightweight fabric… t was really easy to work with, which is always a joy! The design has curved panels in the front bodice and also panels in the armscye seam; I did not have enough plaid to cut the panels as well, so cut these from plain white cotton. At some point I thought the white panels were going to look a little stark against the plaid, so I edged them with strips of bias-cut red cotton, leftovers from this dress… this is the method I used for this.
I really love how this looks in the end! reminds me a little of the sort of racing stripes you get with sportswear like tracksuits, stripes going up the sides of the legs etc; and I’m very happy this plays into the “sporty details” that the dress is named for.
Some other details of the dress: the skirt is cut in two huge, identical pieces, unusually with a centre front and centre back seam. Of course I obsessively plaid matched along these seams… 😀 Actually, I also had to cut the back bodice in two pieces and join them, because of not enough fabric. I stitched my circa 2022 label to the back this time.
The design allows for no pockets, so I added some slanted single welt pockets in the appropriate location. Due again to lack of plaid fabric I cut the pocket bags are cut from the same red cotton as the decorative strips, I had just enough plaid to cut the welts and a strip to edge the pocket bags… so you don’t get blasted with red if you happen to peek inside the pockets!
The above picture also shows the neckline facing edged with red bias; I prefer necklines finished thus nowadays, since it’s softer and less irritating against the skin. Honestly, overlocking itches and irritates and drives me mad sometimes.
The above pictures also shows the sleeves and hemline finished with a facing, I cut these from an irridiscent teal blue/pink taffeta that I had already in my stash. So perfectly matched! it’s like it was meant to be. The casing was a heavy-ish white cotton chosen for its strength.
The sleeves are supposed to be gathered into the armscye… I initially did this, but decided the puffy sleeves were just too fussy for my tastes. Quite honestly, can puffy sleeves ever be considered “sporty” anyway? Anyway I unpicked my sleeves and took 13cm from each sleeve at the sleeve seams; so the sleeves could be inserted into the armscye without gathering. Much nicer in my opinion!
As pictured above, the waistline has a casing attached inside the dress with twin casings for twin drawstrings, both feeding out of two eyelets. This took me quite a bit of time threading them through, and also arranging them each time I put on the dress takes a little bit of time too; and so I’m not sure I’m 100% happy with the outcome. If I was going to make this design again I would do a single casing for just a single drawstring, I think. The two of them together don’t always draw up as equally/evenly as I would like, so arranging them neatly just seems a bit fussy.
Oh, one last thing; someone on instagram asked me about the dp studio instructions, and I would have to honestly say they are minimal, at the best! If you have been sewing for a while and do not need exact and unambiguous direction then you’ll be fine. Otherwise, maybe not!
Not very long ago, I was contacted by dp studio, a pattern company whose offerings I’ve always found super interesting and intriguing… I bought a few of their patterns last year but am still yet to find time to make them up… eek!! Anyway, they wanted to know if I would like to review one of their latest. Would I?! Omigosh, yes!! They have recently brought out a new thing… something called a 
The fabric from Hamon is absolutely lovely; a 100% viscose with a beautifully soft and floaty hand to it, and a loose flowy, silk-like drape. Divine!! Even better, the print is super pretty; black flowers and leafy tendrils on a creamy background. I think this creamy ground suits me quite well, my “white”, so to speak; so I was very happy with this. The kit also contained a lightweight, fusible interfacing, a stable, fusible stay-tape for the bias cut opening edges and the shoulder seams; and length of perfectly colour-matched satin ribbon for the belt/tie. Oh! and a reel of perfectly colour-matched, cream coloured thread. This was actually overlocking thread rather than all-purpose thread, but I found it quite nice, not woolly; and to be absolutely fine for the purposes of sewing this very delicate fabric.
I really enjoyed making up my dress. Lately – well I mean, once I’d got my mad, rough knitting bag project out of my system; I’ve been more in the mood for careful, quietly lengthy and dedicated sewing projects; something that takes time and effort, and maybe even requires unpicking and re-doing things over and over until I get them right. I think it’s the process of making Kelly’s wedding dress that has brought this new mood for meticulous perfection upon me. Will this be the case from now on? possibly not! but it is right now so I’m contentedly riding that wave in serene and unhurried happiness.
