There’s nothing quite like the challenge of a pattern cover that says “sew it in less than one hour”.  A couple of hours before I was due to leave for a dinner date with some other sewing bloggers a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to put that claim to the test.  I grabbed the StyleARC Marita dress pattern and some Darn Cheap Fabrics $2-per-metre-table stretch crepe (possibly polyester) from stash, and got to work.

Well, did I get it made in less than one hour? No – it took me about one hour and fifteen minutes, from cutting out to completely finished. However, the pattern cover does say “sew it” – so I suppose that doesn’t include the cutting out time. Which isn’t much – there is a front, back, sleeve and back neck. Very straightforward! Because I’ve made this dress before, I remembered that it was fairly snug through the body on me. This time I cut it out about a size larger through the body, which was an improvement. I also extended the depth of the cowl at the centre front to stop it flipping out or showing, which I think was was also an improvement.

Since this fabric is a little heavier weight than the one I used for my previous make, the cowl folds a little rather than drapes. That could be partly due to the extra cowl facing depth as well. The back neckline hugs the back of the neck beautifully and finishes the neckline nicely. And that twist at the front is super easy to do.

Fitwise at the back, it’s not as tight as last time, but could probably have benefitted from shortening the back thorough the waist – a short waist adjustment. It also looks a little wide across the back shoulders, which I cut exactly as per the size 12 pattern.  Hmmm.  Hems are finished with a twin needle after securing with vliesofix.

Overall verdict? This is a colour that really suits me, in a style that looks terrific with a jacket or cardigan, in a comfortable and relatively forgiving stretch fabric. I reckon that with some more tweaks the Marita could easily be a winter version of Vogue 1250. And the sewing time probably is less than an hour – although I’d allow one and a half hours from go to whoa.