Victory V

I've not had much time for sewing of late but I have yet again returned to the ol' self-drafted stretch jersey dress pattern. (I'll do something else soon I promise!)

I used 'ponte de roma' jersey in navy blue - ponte is a great fabric as its lovely and soft and stretchy, but thicker and sturdier that regular t-shirt jersey. Its a bit more forgiving on the body, not as clingy.

So this time I went for a simple knee length dress, nice for coming spring weather, with sleeves just above the elbow. The entire dress (except for the hem) was done on the overlocker.

The main alteration I made here was to add cuff/bands to the sleeves and also create a bound v-neck.

This is the first time I've had a go at this technique and I'm rather pleased about how simple it turned out to be.

As its jersey and stretchy fabric anyway, the strips for the cuffs and neck binding are just straight strips of fabric (the stretch going across the length) ironed in half.

I wanted to share this great tutorial on HOW TO MAKE A BOUND V NECK. Its another great tutorial from the sewing community on Burdastyle. Incidentally I learnt how to sew completely from that website, its fantastic.

I think it turned out fairly well for a first go - you can see I overshot the stitching at the V but no matter. The same technique was used for the cuffs. The next time I try this I may try doing the band in a contrasting colour - I was thinking and black/white stripe dress with bright accents at the neck and sleeves.

I would highly recommend giving this v-neck method a try, a great bit of ammo for the sewing armoury!