Sylvia Sews

After a long summer hiatus I have returned to the sewing machine. I’m not sure if it was the heat that dissauded me or attempting to make a swimsuit that totally turned me off sewing for a few months, but we took a break. I did collect a few pieces of fabric in that time, and I had this deadstock viscose challis I knew I wanted to eventually make a dress with!

It’s actually fairly difficult to have the stars align where you find a pattern you like and a fabric you would want to make it with at the exact same time. So, staggering the purchases as I find each works better to not make any rash decisions. It feels like you should have a plan before you buy fabric, but the availability of cute stuff is not very consistent so I feel like you have to jump when you find something.

So anyways, as the weather slightly cooled, I finally felt the urge to sew again. The trauma of trying to sew a swimsuit had subsided (I’ll try again next year). I had been seeing Silversaga patterns all over instagram so I gave the Emma dress pattern a shot!

The big change to my process this time was that I ACTUALLY MADE A TOILE. When I ordered the deadstock fabric, I was initially sent the wrong fabric. They re-sent, and I got to keep the mistakenly sent fabric. This had to be a sign from the universe that it is time for me to FINALLY make a toile before I cut into the nice fabric. It’s free after all! It was also another viscose challis so a great test fabric.

While it was somewhat painful to cut and sew something knowing I would soon be doing it all over again…. I hate to admit it was well worth the time. It turned out that I had to do very minimal alterations to the pattern, and yep, it was still worthwhile. I was able to get rid of extra fabric bunching in the bodice, that I would have otherwise probably had to just live with in the final dress. I also was able to get a feel for the techniques and steps needed for the pattern and I made less mistakes in the final go… So yes, it’s true what they say… make a toile… ugh.

I now have a big cutting mat and rotary cutter, so that did speed things up a bit and make it easier to stomach making two versions. I typically was pinning the pattern pieces to the fabric and cutting with scissors- much more time consuming and less accurate.

I loved this pattern because it had multiple cup size options- I chose the E/F and because of that, I did not have to do any of my own alterations to lengths or full bust adjustments or all that mess. Such a relief. It was a spendier pattern, but that alone makes it well worth the cost. Until now, I really have not been impressed by the initial fit of any pattern I have made. There has been pretty big issues with every one, in my opinion. This was a breath of fresh air. I did add about 8 inches to the length of the skirt to get the same midi-length, but that alteration is to be expected and easy!

I’m really happy with the result and plan to make another style of dress from Silversaga patterns soon! I wore it dinner right after I finished making it and it was comfortable and cute!