I don’t think that I have EVER written as many blog posts in one day as I have today.  I’m not sure whether to apologise for the deluge or to just celebrate it!  The backlog of blog posts is still considerable but at least I feel as though I am making some inroads.

So, on to Lekala 7058!  This is a girls pattern, so the measurements required were just height, chest, waist and hip.  Nothing else fancy and no adjustments.

As far as I am concerned – and fortunately, Clare agrees – this dress is an unqualified success. It is a garment that appeared super quickly. One day I was at The Cloth Shop buying this printed Japanese cotton (which has a bit of texture to it, as many of the Japanese cottons do), then before I knew it I was downloading the pattern and sewing it up! I think that it was finished the next day.

This is such a simple dress, so is ideal for such a beautiful fabric. I pretty much ignored the instructions, and used my common sense for construction. The bodice is self-lined, so I used the “burrito method” to line it. That works beautifully in a sleeveless garment. The centre back seams were sewn, with a centre back slit at the top and an elastic loop on one side, and the shoulder seams of both the dress and the self lining/facing. The dress and facing are sewn together firstly around the neckline, with the facing under stitched so that it won’t roll to the outside. I actually remembered to try it on Clare before under stitching, and we decided that the neckline was too high as it was so scooped it out another inch or so at centre front. The next step is to “burrito” one armhole, then the other. After that the side seams of both the main dress and the lining/facing can be sewn. Got that?

The centre front pleat is actually the first part of the garment construction. I made sure to secure it with a V shaped row of stitching at the top. It was all pretty straightforward from there on. The hem was sewn by machine with a blind hem stitch that sunk into the fabric quite nicely.

The back has a vintage button from stash as a closure in combination with an elastic loop (stolen from the girls’ hair tie collection). As is often the case, the dress slips on over Clare’s head without needing to be undone. I suspect that we are a small-headed family!

I have a feeling that this is one of my favourite garments for the summer. Pretty, yet a little sophisticated. Young, yet not childish. And the colour is one of her favourites. I think that it is perfect.