Dresses

Coral eyelet Anna dress

When I visited New York a few years back I knew I wanted to go to the garment district and was lucky enough to go with some fantastic sewists. I met up with Karen, Sonja, Charlotte and Emma Jayne! Plus Peter joined us for a little bit too which was fantastic.

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching

We headed to Mood Fabrics first. A project runway fave. It’s pretty overwhelming as there’s several floors and bolts are stacked so high you have to either know what you’re after or rummage. Swatch is uber adorable though! You can read more about my NY trip here.

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching

In a bid to avoid panicking I decided to look for a pretty cotton eyelet as it’s so rare in the UK. The coral that I found was both gorgeous and reasonably priced so I got 2m. Now as is always the case… I should have got more for pattern matching but I made it work. It took 6 months to find the perfect lining then a full year where I painstakingly planned and cut out the dress. Then I put on too much weight to fit into the size I’d cut.

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching

If I didn’t make enough of a song and dance about it at the time, 2019 was the year I finally visited Paris. And I wanted to finish this dress and take it with me. I had lost a little weight and I let out the seams and just got it to fit. We had quite a nightmare second day where after no sleep the night before we had to move out of our Airbnb so it was so fun wearing this dress to make me feel better on day 3. The weather was fantastic!!

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching

I picked the By Hand London Anna dress because of the bust pleats that come up from the waist. This eyelet was too bulky for darts and the pleats don’t interrupt the pattern too much. I hand gathered the skirt as it was too bulky to baste stitch and I’m pretty pleased with the results. To do this you pin the seams and CF/CB points, then pin the halfway points between those pins and so on until you’re only hand gathering very small sections of around 2″ and you can keep things even.

 
 
 
 
 
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I’m VERY pleased with the pattern matching at the invisible zip. I love pattern matching and try to indulge every so often in a tricky match. Isn’t this video hypnotising!?

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching Here’s a brief guide for this symmetrical fabric which needs to match vertically and horizontally across an invisible zipper:First I pin the left hand side back bodice first with the CB seam allowance on the pattern piece folded under. The folded edge sits straight down the centre of the motifs.

Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching

Then I unfold the seam allowance and cut out the whole piece. See how the motif looks at the centre back below?Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching sewing

I then repeat for the right by laying the left cut piece on top of my fabric to find an exact matching location then line up my right hand side back bodice and move the cut left bodice out of the way.Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching sewing

I ensure that my folded pattern edge is again straight down the centre before unfolding the seam allowance and cutting out the right hand side bodice.Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching sewing

When installing the invisible zip in the centre back it can help to mark the seam allowance in water soluble pencil and baste the zip in place to achieve the perfect match. This method works for centre sewn regular zippers but you need a different method for a lapped zipper. This approach also works for printed fabrics like florals or scene prints.Almond rock new York mood fabrics cotton eyelet by hand London Anna dress pattern matching sewing

I hope you liked the dress and tutorial. I’m hoping to get some wear out of it this spring and summer somehow!

(5) Comments

  1. Carol Thomas says:

    Very professional finish. Well done !

  2. Carol Thomas says:

    Very professional finish. Yippee!

  3. Louise Tolley says:

    Thank you! This is really very useful.

  4. Well done on using your fabric – I only bought one small piece and it’s still in my stash! Maybe this year!!

  5. […] you achieve pattern matching perfection like the pair of flannel Hanukkah pjs I made for a friend using the exact same sewing patterns and […]

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