Sometimes I get so excited by the result of a new pattern that I sew it up again almost straight away.  That is what happened with the Crafty Mamas Triangle dress.  After sewing my first one, I quickly pulled more fabric out of stash and launched into another.

This time I overlaid the front yoke pattern piece onto the front dress pattern piece before cutting out in order to eliminate the yoke seam completely. Much easier when I was sewing the dress entirely in stripes! I also scooped the front neckline an inch or so lower than the pattern.  I stayed with the size Large as I was so pleased with the fit of my first dress.

I still have some things to address with fit through the back waist of patterns.  I think that there is just too much length there.  I am fairly short-waisted, but in the front the extra fabric length is used up by my boobs and my gut.  Those things aren’t in the back, and I really do need to remember to alter patterns BEFORE I cut them out, rather than when I look at the photos taken afterward.  Of course, I can’t see how the back looks in the mirror, so it’s easy to forget.  I folded up the sleeve pattern piece a little to both narrow the sleeve toward the wrist and shorten it before cutting out, as I’d made that alteration after the fact the first time that I sewed it.

I also decided to sew a matching cowl from the scraps left over after cutting out the dress. I had to piece the scraps together, so there are some weirdly angled seams in the cowl, and the length and width was determined entirely by the size of the scraps. I like wearing scarves in winter, and a separate cowl like this is handy because there is no risk of it slipping around or falling off.

The fabric is french terry, from Clear It. I wonder if they still have some left – there were bolts and bolts when I bought it last year. You can see in this photo that it has a smooth face with a looped pile on the back. Construction was all on the overlocker, with hems twin needled on the machine after securing with Vliesofix tape. I also twin needled alongside the raglan seams as a design detail.

I am very happy with the way this fits at the upper back and shoulders. It’s a super snug dress, and a perfect garment to layer with tights and boots and a jacket for winter.

The hem was cut at the pattern length for the dress, and on me the front curve falls just above the knee. I’m 158cm tall, for reference. You can see in this photo that I did made the effort to match my stripes, rather successfully. I do prefer them to all line up properly! Successful stripe matching starts at the cutting stage – you have to pay attention with the pattern placement on the fabric before you even cut into it, then I use plenty of pins to match the stripes before sewing.

I will probably put this pattern aside for now, but I’m pretty sure that you haven’t seen the last of it yet. And I have a new Crafty Mamas pattern to move on to – I’m planning a long sleeved winter dress using the Queen Bee pattern.