I’ve got a special blog post this week! We are trying a new format over on the Love to Sew Podcast where Caroline and I each make a garment based on a theme and then we reveal it to each other and share about our makes! This week on the pod we each sewed a project using eyelet fabric. Here’s mine!
Listen to our episode over on the Love to Sew Podcast to hear more about both of our eyelet makes!
For my eyelet design I knew I wanted something romantic. I’ve been wanting to make the True Bias Lora Dress since it came out and so this felt like the perfect opportunity! I love all the pretty details in the pattern and I thought it would look gorgeous in the eyelet. I made view C, which is the sleeveless dress with a longer length.
When Caroline suggested that we do eyelet for one of our Love to Sew projects, I knew exactly what fabric I would use. I had spotted an eyelet at Fabricland that I loved but couldn't think of a project for. This was the push I needed to go and get this pretty honeydew melon coloured fabric! It’s a pretty bold colour and I love it!
For the lining, I decided to try using Art Gallery Pure Solids because I have the colour chips on my wall for quilting, and I knew I could find a great match. I went with "Pistachio Creme"! AGF solids are cotton lawns and they have a nice smooth hand. It may be a tad thick/stiff for a dress lining, but I really wanted that perfect match! I think it works well with this pattern.
Sewing the Lora Dress was not as hard as I thought it would be! Sure, you need to sew loops for the buttons, but honestly, even that was pretty quick! I loved how it all came together and I found the construction to be intuitive and fun.
I did make a quick muslin before sewing my dress and the fit was really spot on. I decided to lower the neckline about 1.25” because I thought it looked a bit better on me that way. I also took it in a smidge at the underarm and a bit at the back waist. Nothing major, but I’m glad I took the time to muslin it so that the final dress fits perfectly!
I interfaced the lining pieces and you can see a bit of that white interfacing through the eyelet. I was having trouble wrapping my head around where to interfacing and how to get it to not show. In the end, I don’t think it is noticeable unless you know it is there. I’m glad I interfaced to make it nice and strong.
I added a skirt lining to my Lora (the original pattern is unlined) because of the eyelet fabric. It was easy to do so, I cut my lining pieces using the skirt pieces and I ended up hemming them together at the bottom. Hemming separately probably would have been better but *confession* I was feeling lazy and just wanted to get it done.
For buttons, I ended up going with these fancy faux-pearl ones. I’m not sure if they are quite right, but it was hard to find something that went with this dress! I’m going to keep an eye out for other buttons and I might change them later. I do think these make the dress look even more like a wedding guest dress, when I would like it to be more like a fun summer-brunch-on-a-patio dress. But it is gorgeous regardless!
I absolutely love how this dress turned out. Listen to our episode of the Love To Sew Podcast to hear more about this project and to hear about what Caroline made using eyelet, too!
