![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/fullsizeoutput_b5e-1024x452.jpeg)
The final project on my make 9 list for 2019 was the Penny dress by Colette, a calf length shirt dress with 2 options; Version 1 with a short sleeve, gathered skirt & fitted waistband & Version 2 with a sleeveless bodice, semi-circle skirt & an overlapping, gathered waist belt. I’d had the pattern printed off last November by Patternsy & can highly recommend their service, there are a lot of pages to stick together, as both versions have 2 separate pieces for the front skirt. I had bought the fabric from Fabworks, 3 metres of a cotton linen blend that I had ordered online & I had a deadline, my son’s wedding celebration in the Yorkshire Dales on August 10th, so what was stopping me?
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-18-at-23.41.24.png)
Fabric
Well to start with the fabric never seemed right for this project, I imagined it to be much lighter weight than it turned out to be & I was never confident that it would be right for this pattern, I love it but I think it would be more suitable as a jacket. With the wedding looming I looked at all the other patterns & fabric that I had but none of the combinations really felt right.
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5835-1024x1024.jpg)
And then I had a brainwave. A couple of years ago my son had bought me 2 metres of a beautiful Liberty Tana lawn called the Strawberry Thief, (a popular William Morris design), which I had never used, chiefly because it’s expensive, at £25 per metre & I could never find a pattern that I liked & was special enough, but what could be more special than his wedding, it would have meaning for both of us. However, it was not that straightforward! Read on…
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5344-1024x928.jpg)
Fabric Wrangling
The more astute among you may have realised that the Penny dress calls for 3 3/4 yards of 45″ wide fabric & 2 3/4 yards of 60” wide fabric, this Liberty print sits somewhere in between the 2 at 50″, so call it 3 metres & I had 2. I had several attempts at trying to fit the pattern pieces on but it just didn’t seem to work but tenacious is my middle name & I didn’t have much time left – a week to be exact, so I did some fabric wrangling & pattern Tetris & made the bugger fit.
Here’s what I did: I omitted the seam in the back skirt & cut it on the fold. I then graded the front & back skirts from a 12 at the waist down to an 8 at the hem. I then opened out the fabric so that it was no longer folded to cut out the front skirt pieces & lobbed about an inch & half of the length of both. (My toile told me I needed an extra inch in the bodice pieces, so it wouldn’t make the overall finished dress that much shorter & there are 2 inches of hem, so I knew I had plenty to play with).
I also cut the inside yoke out of a plain navy fabric & after reading Beccas blog http://redwsews.com where she talks about her struggle with the facings, I decided to heed her advice & use bias binding around the armholes out of the same navy blue cotton that I had used for the yoke. This is a good frugal tip if you are looking to save on expensive fabric. I also ignored the grain line on the top belt piece which instructs you to cut on the bias, it worked out just fine.
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5832-936x1024.jpg)
Cutting Out
All this faffing about took a long time & it wasn’t without it’s challenges. Firstly, I hadn’t noticed the cutting layout has the fabric wrong side up & this matters! Usually, as long as you are consistent it doesn’t matter which way up your fabric is but because I had tried every which way to fit the pattern on I really didn’t pay attention, which meant that my left skirt became my right skirt & vice versa.
As it turned out I noticed early on & the overall look isn’t affected, so long as you don’t care which way around girls & boys are supposed to button up – I wouldn’t have got away with it on the Great British Sewing Bee but I very much doubt anyone at the wedding will notice, (the bride is a fashion designer, though, so she might but will be too polite & distracted to mention it – I hope). Anyway after much head scratching & trying to fathom my left from my right & actually attaching labels on everything it turned out fine.
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5834-750x1024.jpg)
Sewing Up
Be warned, this is not a quick sew, at least for me it wasn’t, especially as I decided to hand stitch the bias binding & hem down. Plus there are 5 buttons & buttonholes to do, along with 7 fiddly snaps – boy do I dislike sewing on snaps, they’re tricksy little blighters but I have a top tip for you – use velcro – no just kidding, although I suppose you could. I used wonderweb, which is effectively a soluble double sided sticky tape, (anybody remember Blue Peter – they used tons of it), it stops the little beggers moving about & helps to get the position spot on before sewing in place.
There is also quite a bit of top stitching & edge stitching; along the button placket of both the top & skirt, the back yoke & shoulder seams and also along the top of the skirt, which I did at the front as it helps keep the seam allowances in place & is hidden by the belt but omitted it at the back as I thought it was unnecessary & felt it wouldn’t look right.
You also need to pay particular attention to the belt pieces & make sure that the correct one is shortened, as I was short of fabric, I was reluctant to cut one out & then trim it down to the right size, so I steamed ahead, to my chagrin as I had shortened the wrong one, which meant that I had to add a bit on, luckily it was a bit that went underneath, so no-one knows, except me (& you now!)
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5811.jpg)
Another quirk of this pattern is that you sew the side seams last, I don’t think I have ever done it this way, so the back skirt & front skirt are assembled & then the front skirt is attached to the 2 front bodice pieces & the back is attached to the back skirt, I think that this is because the belt ties are inserted in the side seams between the skirt & bodice. Just a warning before you go steaming ahead & assembling them in the conventional manner. This is a good example of why reading the pattern instructions ahead of time is a good idea. I do think that the side seams could be finished together though.
Finally, the instructions suggest interfacing both the upper collar & the under collar & both of the collar stands, again, I think that is unusual. I’m pretty sure I’ve only interfaced the under collar & inside of the stand before, not both & decided to do so in this instance, the Liberty Tana lawn is soft & I didn’t want to change the integrity of the fabric. That’s the beauty of sewing your own clothes you can make decisions about the construction & design to make something unique.
Final Thoughts
Despite the stumbling blocks with this make, which were entirely of my own doing, I really love the result. I feel that the belt detail is a little lost in the pictures.
Although it’s probably not what the mother of the groom would normally wear, it is definitely me & comfortable & this was not to be a traditional wedding celebration. The ceremony was to be held on Brimham rocks which can be bleak & involved a certain amount of walking in pouring rain as it turned out! But I have a dress that has been made with love from fabric that has meaning to us both & I will be able to wear it for other occasions – in fact I intend to wear it to an interview next week – wish me luck!
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5794-671x1024.jpg)
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5800-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://frugalisama.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/IMG_5798-768x1024.jpg)