Unblogged Freya Dress

Weekend mornings are my favourite time to write blog posts, before the day begins in earnest, while the house and road still seem quiet. We are dropping our car off for an MOT in a couple of hours, probably followed by a long walk home, so I thought I’d make time before that to sit in my pyjamas and write about an old(ish) project which never made it to the blog.

Earlier this week, Susan Young posted a knit top on her Instagram account which she had managed to squeeze out of a remnant picked up from the Sewing Weekender fabric swap table. I recognised the fabric as one I had added to the swap table, and checked back on my blog for a picture of my project, and to remind myself where I bought the fabric, but I had never blogged about it.

I knew I had taken photos of this dress – a Tilly & the Buttons Freya Dress, from the Stretch book – while on holiday in Vietnam, back in 2018. It took me a while to track down these photos, which had ended up stored on an external drive as I’ve swapped laptops in the meantime. These photos don’t do a brilliant job of showing off the dress (which is a bit washed out in the sunshine, and a bit overwhelmed by the amazing location, the temple ruins of My Son) but I’m glad it has finally made it to the blog.

Thanks to the Cora App, I was also able to confirm that this fabric was purchased from Birmingham Rag Market and I apparently only bought two metres. I think Sue and I did well to get a dress and top out of those two metres! I’m not able to use the Cora App since moving to an Android phone, but up until around 2018 I had all my fabric catalogued on the app, and I’ve held on to my old iPhone solely to retain access to that info.

For info, I think this Freya was size 3 and I cut the fabric strip for my ruffle 74cm long. I have made two other Freya’s, a zigzag dress and White Christmas top. The only downside of the ruffle Freya in a lightweight knit like this, is that the ruffle loses all structure after washing and needs careful pressing to regain its pleats, which is a level of effort you wouldn’t normally expect (or want) for a simple jersey dress.

I’ve put on weight since these photos were taken, and this dress left my wardrobe in the last clear-out. While a knit garment doesn’t become as potentially uncomfortable and restrictive as a woven garment after a weight change, there’s also less opportunity to wear them with a button open or as a layering piece. I had a wool pencil skirt which I regularly wore with the zipper only half zipped for years and years.

I’m going to get dressed and deliver my car for it’s MOT on time. I might have to look at what other projects I have photographed but never gotten around to blogging soon.

Pink Velvet, Zigzag & Ruffle Freya Dress

I do try to avoid buying fabric if I can’t immediately think of a project I want to make with it. This fabric, however, was one of the occasions when that logic went out of the window. On a whim (partly because it was cheap), I bought a large off-cut of this fabric from Birmingham Rag Market – a pink velvet knit with a large scale zigzag. The fabric has sat in my stash every since as I had no idea what on earth to do with it.

I only have a relatively small amount of knit fabrics, and this was one of my few dress length options, so I decided to give it a try in order to sew a Freya Dress (From Tilly & the Button’s Stretch) from stash fabric. I actually think it turned out pretty well, even though it looks somewhat circus themed, an impression the ruffle definitely adds to.

I graded between sizes 2 and 3, but will size up to a 3 throughout next time as I have limited ease at the bust and upper arms despite sewing a narrow seam allowance. I’m definitely going to sew the Freya Dress again (including that adorable ruffle) in an office appropriate fabric. For reference, I cut the fabric strip for my ruffle 74cm long (Tilly explains how to measure your preferred length rather than specifying a measurement).

These photos are the first blog photos I’ve ever taken myself (using my phone as a remote) as opposed to asking Phil to take them. They turned out ok, but I found it really hard not to frown with concentration, and it took so much longer. I’ll suspect I’ll go back to bothering Phil next time.