Oh my goodness. It has been a while.
Style Arc Ariana Dress in Cloud Nine barkcloth from Minerva FabricsYour kids get older and you think you will have more time.
False.
I have less time than ever before.
And I’m strangely thankful that Minerva Fabrics popped its head up and offered me some fabulous barkcloth as it made me put sewing back onto my schedule – I had to sew! I had planned a jacket with this fabric. However when the fabric arrived, I could not get ‘sundress’ out of my head and simply had to make a Style Arc Ariana Dress.
While the fabric was a little too heavy to cope with shirring, after changing the way to elasticise the back panel, my vision of a fun funky sundress became a reality!
Read more on the Minerva Blog about how this ‘shirred’ panel is a little different to other shirring.
My alterations to ‘shirr’ barkcloth
I totally forgot to publish this post – whoops. However I am delighted to confirm this dress is a firm favourite in my wardrobe and it was in heavy rotation this summer. Lots of people think it is from the popular Australian fashion brand, Gorman… however it’s a Lizzy Original.
Fabric: Cloud 9 Barkcloth, supplied by Minerva Fabrics, UK
Pattern: Ariana Dress, Style Arc.
Sew Busy Lizzy 
Love it!
Not my usual colours but sometimes something completely different just works!
Very nice Lizzy! I can see how that would have been very useful throughout your summer – and since we in the UK are just going into summer it provides great inspiration. Thanks for sharing 😁
Barkcloth is lovely. While it is quite a heavy dress it has still be great on all but the hottest of days. It is still warm here, 27 degrees today!
Lovely dress Lizzy.
Thank you 😊
Lovely dress. Your timing is copacetic! I was checking out your website just last night (seriously weird!) and then wondering how you were. I’m so happy to see you well!
Life just gets so busy and I was completely exhausted for months. The recent shut down means I’ve not been rushing somewhere after work for the first time in years – which has been lovely and allowed me to sew more and relax.
The fabric, the dress, YOU – all perfect!
You just put barkcloth on my stash list.
Thank you.
Very nice! Love the shirred panel, will try that out ☺
It’s a lot firmer sewing it with channels for elastic rather than shirring elastic. However it gives the dress a lovely firm fit and the back panel looks a lot neater than when it is shirred.