Beachy Tessuti Ophelia Dress

Posted on January 27, 2024 by sewbusylizzy

When the Tessuti Ophelia dress pattern was released this Monday, I immediately thought of this long-stashed blue printed linen.

So in no time, the pattern was purchased, downloaded, printed and traced. The linen was prewashed and I sewed this up in short sewing sessions over several evenings and finished on Friday (public holiday here).

Pattern purchased ✅ fabric ready to go ✅

I’m still wearing the Tessuti Claudia I made in 2018 – and have made three more since! My wardrobe is in need of a refresh and while I am much more mindful of overconsumption in all forms, I do feel a couple of new sundresses wouldn’t go astray! While I adore the Tessuti Claudia for hot summer days, I had been procrastinating between a number of other styles as I wanted a different easy-wearing summer style, and I’d been procrastinating between the Tessuti Annie, Sewhouse7 Sauvie and Ready to Sew Paloma. However when Tessuti posted a teaser on instagram about a soon-to-be-released pattern, I decided to wait and see if it was just what I had been looking for.

Description from the Tessuti website: The Ophelia Dress is the ultimate sundress designed for warm days and balmy nights. It is fitted above the bust with bust darts and wide, comfortable shoulder straps and neckband; subtly shaped at the waist and gently flared to the midi-length hem. Topstitching highlights the button through front; stitched down, inseam pockets; centre back seam and wide hem.”

Sizes 6 to 22 are available, bust 32-48inches, hip 36-52 inches.

I opted for A0 printing (2 sheets) because I hate sticking small sheets together!

Line drawing from Tessuti website. I really love the pocket construction.

Thoughts

I suspect the Ophelia may be a pattern repeater for me. The loose shaped fit, pockets, well suited to linen… a perfect Aussie sundress. Sometimes I fall in love immediately with wearing a new style, some times it is a slow burn. Let’s wait and see!

Tessuti Ophelia: a cloudy but very hot humid day.

The front button bands are not interfaced. The top band is – depending on your fabric choice you may want to consider lightly interfacing the band… as there are a lot of buttons and buttonholes!

I have found my bra straps can slightly show, that may depend on your bra style of course.

I graded from 8 at the bust to 10 at the hip as per my measurements. I found the fit good and opted not to shorten the pattern (I’m 5 foot 3 for reference).

I had these buttons (gifted by my lovely friend Jen) and they were a great match. They were four-hole buttons so no machine sewing them on… I found handing sewing the buttons on to be the most tedious, time consuming element.

I confess, I’m tempted to try another in a solid colour linen… or stripes…. maybe a check…

Button testing…. I could not believe I had such a great match in my stash. Note: this is before I sewed the buttonholes.

Thanks for reading!

Pattern: Tessuti Ophelia Dress, PDF download, sizes 6-22.

Fabric: printed linen, The Fabric Store (years ago sorry!)

Papercut Patterns Celestia Dress

Posted on January 30, 2022 by sewbusylizzy

aka the Floral Explosion Holiday Dress.

Papercut Celestia Dress – in cotton voile

I don’t often toile my first-time pattern attempts. I tend to cross my fingers, send up a little prayer and hope for the best.

However when a first-time pattern calls for over 4 metres of fabric and the final fabric is absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious, I’m reluctant to risk destroying it in a risky game of sewing roulette.

Papercut Celestia Dress in cotton voile: a toile

So here we are in my toile of the Papercut Patterns Celestia Dress. 4m+ of some of the most extravagantly floral fabric I’ve worn! This fabric was an impulse purchase from the Spotlight bargain table for less than $4 a metre. I wasn’t quite sure why I bought it at the time, or why I thought 5m was a good idea and I’ve nearly destashed it several times… however here we are…

The Pattern

It a very straight forward sew. The bodice is very cropped and more of a ‘ledge’ for two tiers of fabric to cascade from. There are no bust darts or shaping.

I think the straps are too far set towards the sides. I’d bring them in approximately 10mm or slightly less next time. for some reason I thought I’d experiment with doubling the straps. While it’s got potential, the complex back tie arrangements needs more visual detail is not warranted.

Toile adjustment

The back ties…. I was drawn to this pattern because I loved the back view – however it’s my biggest gripe.

Fabric recommendations are mid-weight woven (cotton, rayon, linen and blends).

Papercut Celestia Dress – those back straps… not my friend. Also please ignore my bra back – I’ll sack the stylist… however I don’t have one to sack! And yes, there are pockets.

The straps definitely fell into a ‘call a friend’ category to adjust, pull in the back bodice to fit and tie the front straps evenly. I ended up fiddling and adjusting the straps myself before trying it on, multiple times. The back loops are one fabric strap, sewn into a casing at the top edge of the back bodice, with the ends pulled out at openings at either end of the casing to form loops. While I liked the overall effect, I found it very fiddly to put on to wear, and if I pre-organised the straps to fit, I found it tricky to get off over my shoulders. So much so, I popped the stitching holding the back strap loops in within the casing.

This could simply be an issue with my fabric having less ‘slip’ than other possible choices, the back loop didn’t want to easily pull through to gather up the back section between the loops and fit the bodice nicely to my upper bust.

To tackle this issue, I decided to secure the back loops at a set length and secured them with several machine stitches. I threaded a piece of elastic through the casing and pulled it up to my desired length to fit, and then secured the elastic ends within the casing with several rows of machine stitching.

I apologise for my lack of photos or illustrations to assist here – my phone app is not playing nice and allowing me to upload any more images. Next Celestia blog post, I’ll provide some more.

This adjustment has meant the design has lost its flexibility in determining fit for each wear, and potentially the ‘relaxed boho’ vibe of a looser back fit – however it pulls the bodice in firmly while still providing comfort. It’s also easier to put on by myself and easier to take off with requiring endless fiddling with the straps for every wear (tying a bow, while pulling up the back straps evenly with your arms twisted behind your back and between your shoulder blades is quite a challenge! I salute those who easily can!).

Papercut Celestia Dress – surprised at how much I like this very floral dress. Not my usual style but a change is always good!

Final thoughts…

I think I’ll risk my scrumdiddlyumptious fabric… I love the volume in this dress – and how it’s hanging from a cropped, fitted bodice. It’s got a lovely airy, careless, artless vibe when you are wearing it.

Pattern: Papercut Patterns Celestia Dress – bust sizes 76cm – 154cm (30 inches – 60 inches)

If Romy was a dress

Posted on January 10, 2022 by sewbusylizzy

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind… but sometimes you just gotta roll with what you’ve created and make it work. These photos taken on my back deck after a work-from-home day and in the midst of a horrendously disruptive and dusty kitchen demolition project.

I’m extremely weary. Christmas, a very large tree branch landing on my roof and cracking tiles, back to work and a kitchen demolition/renovation … it’s been a hectic few weeks. So if this lacks detail… or fails to make sense… I apologise.

“If Romy Was A Dress” she might have been a Gorman. This dress style is reminiscent of the iconic Australian brand which favours simple dress shapes which let the fabric sing – which are often artist collaborations. Google ‘Gorman Afternoon Tea Dress’ to see what inspired this dress.

The Tessuti Romy Top has been popular as a ‘dress hack‘ and it’s easy to see why. If Lisa’s gorgeous version a few year back wasn’t enough to seduce you – then the floaty summer dresses of late in stores might now.

Inspired by a Gorman dress from a few season ago, when I spied this delicious textural domino check at Minerva’s Bower I jumped at the opportunity to turn an idea buzzing around in my head into reality.

It’s more cream than white ‘in real life’ – link to site provided below.

I had Romy in my stash and had made it in a linen remnant when it was first released. The fit was good and I like how it’s a slip-on top with no zipper/buttons required. Sorry my photo opportunities and blogging is sorely lacking these days!

So I tried on my top, decided where I would like my dress waistline to be and added 1/2 inch seam allowance.

I only lined the bodice as I knew the waist ease would make the skirt voluminous enough.

I hand stitched the lining to the waist seam. I love a tidy finish.

I used the outer bodice pieces as the lining pieces. I lined it with black lawn as the shepherds check is fairly textured and two layers would have added too much structure to the garment which already was going to have significant ease around the waist.

Inspired by the first Romy dress hack, I also used grosgrain ribbon for my shoulder straps. I made this during lockdown so I was just lucky to have some in my ‘stash’ to use.

For the skirt, I used all of the remaining length, cut it in half lengthwise, sewed the two pieces together (selvedge a to selvedge a) and then gathered the full width of the fabric onto the bodice. I hand stitched a tiny hem to get the most out if the fabric length.

I wished I’d purchased 2m or slightly more instead of 1.75cm and this would be a tiny bit longer… but hindsight is a wonderful thing and the dress is lovely nevertheless. So after cursing myself for several months… I’ve forgiven it for my Scrooge-like purchasing and have finally decided I like it after all! How the checks met between the bodice and skirt does irritate me a little – but I’m learning to embrace my frugal habits and what comes with them!

If you put your hands on your waist… it doesn’t look quite as roomy as Romy can be!

I’ve well and truly embraced dresses with lots of ease, perfect for humid summer days… and just feeling comfortable and relaxed in, I struggle to imagine reverting to fitted styles now. Perhaps it’s the Covid lockdown, work-from-home lifestyle. Maybe it’s my age. Either way… I’m comfortable and relaxed – and happier.

Romy dress, side view – if you are seeking a waist-enhancing frock… this may not be for you!

Pattern: Romy Top, Tessuti Patterns

Fabric: Domino Check, Minerva’s Bower

Tales from the Remnant Bin – Sadie Slip, Olya Shirt and Rise Turtleneck

Posted on April 25, 2020 by sewbusylizzy

I had a week off work – and what can I say, I got productive!

This time I decided to challenge myself to sew from my seemingly endless stash (again) and also to sew an outfit using ‘remnant bin’ rescues.

For no particular reason… it just seemed like a good idea.

I was originally inspired by these two pieces I had found sitting alongside each other.

Rayon knit and khaki linen – looked so good together!

I had 1.6m of print rayon knit and 1.4m of khaki linen.

I played with several ideas for the top but eventually settled on the Rise Turtleneck by Papercut Patterns. I had this pattern in my stash, having made the Fall Turtleneck a couple of years ago.

There isn’t much to say about this! It’s an easy make, I cut and finished this in about 90 minutes – extra time spent on hems. I was between sizes and decided to make up the Small instead of the Extra Small. It’s a looser fit – but not baggy. I think I will add more of these basics to my wardrobe. Easy, comfortable and practical.

Rise Turtleneck by Papercut Patterns in a rayon knit

I was prevaricating between a loose pinafore style dress, trousers or a straighter pinafore style… and in the end I chose none of these options.

I almost made trousers… well I actually did make trousers – just not khaki ones! I whipped up a test pair in my last piece of cotton/linen (see my Pipit post) and decided while I didn’t hate the trousers, I would like them much less in a solid, prone-to-crinkle linen. And I didn’t think a fitted turtleneck would pair very well with front-pleat trousers and elastic in the back waist.

This was just a test with my leftover linen. Pull-on pants with front pleats and elastic back waist. Pattern from Kana’s Standard

I was SO tempted to put the fabric aside and move onto something else… however that’s not really the point of a challenge. The challenge is to finish.

I got up the next morning and pulled out my Tessuti Patterns, Sadie and Claudia. I umm-ed and ahh-ed and decided I would prefer the neckline of the Sadie with a turtleneck for autumn layering. This was a real squeeze on 1.4m of fabric – however as I am 5 foot 3-ish, I’ve shortened my Sadie pattern pieces considerably and it ‘just’ fit.

I’ve made this dress four times now! After my first version, I lengthened the facing pieces to be much longer – a similar length to the Ogden Cami by True Bias.

I discovered with my first version, that the neckline facing wanted to roll outwards a lot – despite understitching. I’ve also seem this on other Sadies and even saw someone at The Fabric Store wearing one with the facing stitched down from the outside – which probably helps but the visible stitching would annoy me. I’ve found by lengthening the facing, almost a half lining, the rolling is minimised. I still use the original facing pieces and just cut interfacing using these and apply the interfacing to the top of the facing pieces.

Sadie Slip Dress, Tessuti Patterns. Inner lining/facing

I added the optional back fisheye darts as the linen has much less drape than my versions in lightweight tencel denim and silk.

Very windy afternoon – sorry! There are fisheye darts in my back!

I left the hem raw. I will run a line of stitching around the edge to keep fraying slightly under control – however I love a bias frayed hem and in linen it adds some rustic charm.

A linen Sadie Slip Dress. Taken on a windy afternoon!

I’m surprised just how much I like this! An incredible simple, versatile sundress. Or slip under a shirt or jacket – or layered with a turtleneck. Will look great with a faded denim jacket and sneakers.

It’s been very warm for late autumn, today it as 28 degrees – so no photos with the turtleneck other than a garage selfie (currently dance studio and gym).

garage selfie late in the evening

Sadie Slip Dress and a Rise Turtleneck – hoping this works for layering for autumn

And finally I pulled about ANOTHER piece of remnant bin yarn-dyed linen in mushroom pink and it also seemed to pair beautifully with the khaki linen (khaki is a fabulous neutral!) so decided to add it to the challenge…

I made myself a Paper Theory Olya Shirt. I needed determination to make this one happen!!

Firstly there was an epic pattern Tetris episode to fit it on the piece of linen I had chosen. I even photographed by leftover scraps because I was so proud of myself!

Fabric scraps after pattern tetris to make an Olya shirt

Then I realised when I went to attach the cuffs (late in construction)… I had only cut out one set. I felt like crying. I lay awake in bed, contemplating if having contrasting cuffs was cheating… and if I did that, should I add contrast collar band and button plackets… yes, I like to overthink things.

Whew – two pieces large enough for cuff pieces

Fortunately I found two pieces and squeezed out two more cuffs pieces. Whew!

THEN I unpinned my collar bands to discover I was missing a chunk of fabric from one of the bands (the perils of block fusing and then cutting out on the fold!). There was definitely no.more.fabric to cut another band. Cue more overthinking…. and then I decided to just ‘patchwork’ a piece onto the collar band. Not ideal but it worked.

Agreed. The grainline of the piece is not ideal… however it was the only option.

This is a slightly more complex shirt in some ways – there are hidden pockets in the front seams and the front yoke extends into the sleeve. I highly recommend following along with the Paper Theory sewalong online for attaching the sleeve. There is a pivot point, which is a little tricky and then you need to figure out where to go next and where to stop. Hard to explain however the best advice I can offer you is to just slow down – or even walk away for a while if you are finding it perplexing. There is nothing to invites disaster more than exhaustion and frustration!

Olya Shirt, Paper Theory & Sadie Slip Dress, Tessuti Patterns

Olya Shirt – it is a very roomy shirt, boxy and airy.

Love these colours together!

I made this pattern up as a shirtdress last year. Sorry it hasn’t made it onto the blog… I left off the front pockets on this version. While I like the dress in itself, it feels like a massive pyjama shirt due to the colour/stripe and I’m not sure what to do with it. Maybe dye it… or wear it open as a duster coat. Or just put it aside for a while. I did that with my Flint Pants and now wear them regularly.

Olya Shirt dress

Anyway… I’m pretty pleased I hung in there and finished off these three remnant bins garments. Challenging myself to use a piece of fabric, find a suitable pattern from my stash and turn them into versatile wardrobe additions is a real win.

Fabric: 1.4m Rayon print knit, cost $3.80; 1.4m khaki premium linen suiting, cost $10.40, 1.5m dusky pink yarn dyed linen $10. Total cost $24.20

Patterns used: Rise turtleneck, Papercut Patterns; Sadie Slip Dress, Tessuti Patterns; and Olya Shirt, Paper Theory.

So there you have it. Three new wardrobe staples in 4 days. All unloved pieces from a remnant bin!

I’ve had people asked me if I get embarrassed taking photos at the beach. Well this one is 9kms long, you are always excessively socially distanced on this one! Yes, that’s old Banjo who always made regular and popular appearances on this blog and Instagram. He will be 11 in August!

Barkcloth Sundress

Posted on April 25, 2020 by sewbusylizzy

Oh my goodness. It has been a while.

Style Arc Ariana Dress in Cloud Nine barkcloth from Minerva Fabrics

Your 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

she sews by the seashore…

Category Archives: Dresses