High Street Fashion made at Home| A Guest blog post by Natalie

I’m a very lucky girl… A few weeks ago I was contacted by Maria asking me if I would be interested in making something out of one of her gorgeous fabrics. Who would say no to that!

My name is Natalie (@looms.loops) and I have a passion for creating. Weaving, macrame, embroidery,… I do it all. Sewing however remains my number 1. My mum taught me to sew when I was 17 and I’ve been sewing (on and off) ever since. I’ve never taken any classes and for the most part I’m auto didactic, I still learn on a daily basis.

When Maria asked me to choose a fabric I was instantly intrigued by her Bamboo fabrics. I had never sewn Bamboo before but with eco fabrics being on the top of my favourites list it was an easy made choice. Me being a sucker for nudes I went straight for the Bamboo/Tencel/Rayon in nude colour. The weave in the fabric made it perfect for the dress I had in mind.

Mccall M7974 had been on my list for a while. The dress is an almost exact copy of the Willow Dress by Cult Gaia. This is one of my favourite things to do, copy designer brands. I tend to go to high fashion shops, have a proper look at how their garments are made and then go home and make my own version (shhhh, don’t tell anyone!)…

The fabric I received is fabulous. It is so lush and super soft to the touch, I absolutely love it! I pre washed the fabric and it didn’t move an inch, it just felt even softer. It has a beautiful shine, almost silk like.

For rayon fabrics I tend to use a sharp needle however upon experimenting on a few swatches a universal needle worked perfectly fine without leaving any remarkable holes in the fabric. I changed the stitch length from 2,5 to 2mm but I didn’t change the tension (4). Bamboo is a very nice fabric to sew, it stayed nicely in place and stitched as smoothly as cotton.

I decided not to make pockets for this dress. I tend not to use them often in dresses and thought it would only add bulk around the waist. I finished all the seams with French seems as the fabric is slightly sheer and I love the neat finish of French seams. I hardly used my overlock on this dress. The dress was hemmed by hand as I don’t like machine stitched hems.

For the buttons I went for mother of pearl buttons, which I use very often. I find buttons to be the one thing I can never find right in Dubai (hint Maria ;) ). Very often they are bad quality, ugly and look cheap, which can completely ruin your handmade outfit. I like the organic look of the mother of pearl and luckily they fit many garments as I often use plain fabrics.

As far as the size is concerned I downsized 1 size. According to Mccall’s body measurements I’m a size 12 however I find Mccall to be quite generous with their easing. As I wanted the dress to be well fitted I went for a size 10, which turned out to fit like a glove.

I would definitely make this dress again. It’s feminine, light and wearable. Next time I might make the short sleeved version with the knotted sleeve band. A definite success…

ThreadWerk: Thank you so much Natalie for sharing this stunner with us. Use the same fabric, or choose any of the other bamboo & tencel fabrics.

Tencel Bamboo - Mauve

Tencel Bamboo - Nude

Tencel Rayon Bamboo - Olive

Tencel Rayon Bamboo - Mauve

Tencel Rayon Bamboo - Nude

#fabricreview #guestblogpost