Fresh Floral Flora

Happy happy sunny times!

I finished this dress just in time for the glorious weather.

This is a long overdue White Tree Fabrics make. I wanted to use some of the new Tilda cottons that they’re stocking: This is Mia in Pink. As ever, the parcel arrived in the blink of an eye.

I haven’t made a By Hand London Flora in six months and as soon as I picked it back up I remembered how quick it is to sew and how flattering I think it is on me from the front.

I love how it hits me just at my collarbone so is modest but those thin little straps keep it flirty. I wore this to work during the heatwave and was kept both cool and modest. Plus the Tilda print went down very well with lots of nice compliments.

As you can see I just added a gathered skirt again, this is because the Tilda cotton isn’t wide enough for a circle skirt. Also if you read my original blog post I changed the bodice to waist darts only. Finally I lined the entire dress in peach anti-static lining and used a white invisible zipper.

I really need to alter the lines of the back bodice somehow… it makes me look like I have the most ginormous linebacker shoulders. I think the “arm holes” are cut just a little too far in to flatter me. Not a major problem, because who’s looking at your shoulders that closely right?

Because my first version was made out of cotton sateen it was sized a little smaller than I needed to account for the stretch, so I added 5mm to the centre front and side seams to help with this.

The cotton was really lovely to work with because it’s nice and light and crisp. I do think it’s a shame when 100% cotton gets a little rumpled by the end of the day but that’s a small price to pay for the pretty prints. The shades of pink in this Tilda cotton really say Summer to me.

So there you have it. A fresh floral Flora dress! I hope you like it as much as I do.