Tilly and the Buttons ‘Megan’ Dress

For my latest garment I made the Megan dress from the book Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes. I think it’s fantastic that she gets the reader making a proper dress so early on; most beginners’ sewing books have heaps of dull projects at the start, which can be really frustrating! I actually made this quite a while ago, I just never got round to posting it:

For the top part of the dress I used the remnants of some beautiful Liberty cotton that was left over from a previous project. For the rest I used a ramie that picks up the blue in the floral print. At first I found the ramie a bit tricky to work with, as I’ve never sewn with anything so easily creased (and the creases are impossible to iron out!) or that frays so easily. In the end I got used to it, but you can see in the pictures that the skirt is still quite wrinkled.

When I toiled the dress, I was horrified to discover that the sleeves and armholes were way too tight; I’d never had to adjust a pattern before, and the thought terrified me! Unfortunately it’s one of the only alterations Tilly doesn’t cover in the book, so I ended up scouring the internet for tutorials. Eventually, after spending hours drafting and redrafting the armhole and sleeve pieces, I found a combination that fit perfectly! I definitely learned a lot from having to go through this process (which at times was infuriating) but it was totally worth it because now I have a well-fitting pattern that I can use again and again.

Aside from the issues I had with the sleeves, this pattern was a lot easier than I expected, and once I’d sorted that out it barely took any time to make.

I love the sixties vibe of this dress- especially with the optional faux placket- and eventually I want to make one in colour-blocked navy and red, just like Tilly’s from the book!

Also, sorry for my long absence; the combination of sixth form starting and my depression being extra shitty has made it tricky to do much (as you can imagine, neither helps with the other!), but hopefully I’ll be able to post more regularly soon.