Before I start detailing garments I made at Sewjourn in December, I’d better finish blogging the ones I made at Sewjourn in November!

The pattern is the Soleil dress by Selvage Designs. It is designed for knits, utilising rib knit trim around the edges of the pocket, armholes, and neck and back openings. I really love the back opening detail (although it’s not terribly sun smart – but the pattern does include a full back option).

I think that I made this as size 6T – which falls between size 5T and size 6. Weird sizing descriptions! It fits her rather well, actually. The instructions were quite good, and the overall style is very pretty. I shared the construction between the overlocker and the sewing machine.

I bought the fabric at Super Cheap Fabrics in Sydney Road, Brunswick. It’s a jacquard – the colours and pattern are knitted into the fabric, and the cream lines are all raised. I also bought the neutral beige colourway. Now I wish that I’d bought more of both. It was great to use and has washed really well.

I haven’t used rib knit for edges for a long time. It’s SO easy to use! You do need to remember to stretch it much more than if you were using self-fabric bindings, but the nature of the knit allows for that. It was fortunate that this cream rib knit was already in my stash. I’d looked for other matching (or even dramatically contrasting) rib knit trim without success before returning to the depths of stash to find this one.

Stella calls this her “happy dress” – what more could I ask for!