These last few blog posts have had a definite theme – they are all garments sewn from Tessuti patterns.  This one is a pattern repeat for me – the Ruby dress.

Now I know that my pose in that photo is weird, but it shows off the shape of the dress beautifully. And hey, I found a new backdrop for you! However, I discovered that it was wet when I leaned on it. Ew. Just water from the building’s air conditioning, luckily. So, back to the dress. I sewed this in size Medium without alterations. The length is as per the pattern, simply overlocked then turned up an inch and blind hemmed on the sewing machine. For reference, I’m 158cm tall so you might want to take that into account if you are taller.

Now can I rave about this fabric? I love it for quite a few reasons. The colour way is superb. Dark olive green with mustard flowers; just perfect for me! It’s quite loosely woven yet isn’t transparent, and is super soft. And the best bit? It’s a holiday souvenir, bought on my fantastic fabric shopping trip with Gaye in Chiang Mai last year. Wonderful memories!

Side seams and shoulder seams were sewn on the overlocker. I applied the binding to the inside of the dress first, then turned it to the outside and topstitched it in place. The facing around the back slit was cut twice and then sewn right sides together around the edges before turning to the right side. This acted as self-interfacing and left me with lovely edges to the facing. Then once it was attached to the dress I top-stitched around the slit for extra strength. The button closure is a flat shank button from stash, and I used hat elastic to make the loop to secure it.

So there you go! This dress does need a strapless, racer-back or cross-back bra underneath, so you might want to keep that in mind if you make it. The armholes are cut in, but not too far and I think it’s a great cut on me. I loved wearing this in yesterday’s heat. Just wish that I’d remembered to put my lipstick (and bracelets) on for the photos!