Here, at Calico Laine we love nothing more than seeing what gorgeous creations our customers come up with. Over the years we have been awed and inspired by the wonderful (and yes, sometimes weird!) designs which have been showcased both on our website and our social media channels. We know that many of our customers, some with many years experience of sewing and some who are brand new to the hobby, are often inspired by other dressmakers designs and creations and often contact us wanting to know how to create specific designs for themselves. Over the past few weeks, there has been one design which for us has stood out above many others and that was the 1950's inspired Dotty Dress, created by Lisa Sheridan of Lisa Sheridan Frocks. The beautiful design and expert needlework displayed by Lisa caused such a stir on our Facebook page that we though it would be a great idea to ask Lisa to write a guest blog for us, so dig out your sewing machine and see the masterpiece you can create by following Lisa's tutorial, using fabrics from Calico Laine. Dotty Dress, 1950’s inspired Occasion Dress By Lisa Sheridan After having such interest showed in my Pink Polka dot dress; Calico Laine kindly asked if I could be a guest blogger and share with you a basic run down of how I made it. I am afraid I cannot go into great detail, as it would become too long! But I hope what I have shared with you will inspire you and gives you a few helpful tips! I am a designer/maker and I make clothes for a living, my website is www.lisasheridan.co.uk ; so please feel to check it out! I used and based the design on a vintage 1950’s pattern. The dress is lined, with a boned bodice; underskirt with a netted frill. The skirt has an added horsehair trim at the hem to give the skirt an appearance of further fullness. SHOPPING LIST:
  • Cerise on White Polka Dot 22mm (CP0075) cotton fabric (Calico Laine)
  • Cherry Dress Net (Calico Laine)
  • Invisible Zip (Calico Laine)
  • White cotton (for lining)
  • Thin piping cord
  • Spiral Boning and casing, the Calico Laine boning would work fine
  • 6mm Cotton reinforcement tape
  • 7.5cm Crinolin or horsehair braid.
For the belt. 
  • As main fabric
  • Velvet ribbon
  • Heavy interfacing
  • White Organza (Calico Laine)
  • Pearly stamens
  • Snappers
To Make
  • Cut out the pattern pieces in the Main Polka Dot fabric and in the Cotton Lining.
  • I always make up a toile first in calico, to ensure the garment that you are making fits correctly. It’s easier to make any adjustments at this stage.
  I worked on the bodice first, by stitching the bust darts. Ensuring and most importantly, that they are properly pressed! The top front and back bodice sections are sewn together, including the right hand Side Seam, aligning seam joins. I then piped the under bust.
  • Cut a bias strip approx. 3.5cm. Piping cord is sandwiched in-between the bias strip and stitched closely to the piping. The best way I found to do this was to use either a zip foot or invisible zip foot, instead of having to buy a piping foot!
  • Stay stitch piping onto the bottom bodice.
  • Sew the top bodice to the bottom bodice, ensuring the side seam matches; again use the zipper foot to stitch these sections together.
Lining
  • Make up the lining as above, ignoring the piping.
  • Stitch the boning to the overbust and back. I used a spiral boning and casing, but the boning that Calico Laine sells works just as well.
  • The main bodice and Lining bodice are joined together along the top edge, at the same time as this is stitched,  include the stay tape (as below in diagram). This strengthens the seam and stops it becoming stretched over time.
Skirt
  • Both Main and Lining, sew right hand side seam. Finish off raw edges by over-locking or zig zag stitch.
  • Attach Main skirt to Main bodice
  • Attach Lining skirt to Lining bodice. (ensuring ALL seams match)
Zipper An invisible zip is sewn to the Left Hand side of the Main fabric.
  • Lining is secured onto the edge of zip.
  • Follow methods on how to attach an invisible zipper.
Hem
  • Stitch the 7.5cm wide Crinolin to the hem edge of the Main Skirt, onto the right side of the fabric.
  • This is a great tutorial to show you how to do this:-http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/06/magic-of-horsehair-braid-little
Petticoat Hem/Frill
  • Measure along the hem of the petticoat to get the exact length.
  • Treble the amount to get the correct amount to gather for the frill, (if more fullness is desired just add more!)
  • EXAMPLE:
You will have to join several pieces together to get the correct total width.
  • Gather top edge of netting.
  • The method shown below, is the one that I have found to be the easiest to gather netting.
  • Using a thick thread, zig-zag stitch (on the largest stitch) over the thick thread, as diagram, along the top edge of the netting.
  • Secure one end by wrapping around a pin and pull!
  • Gather to the required width to fit the hem edge of the petticoat.
  • Stitch netting onto petticoat with a slight overlap.
  Belt
  • Measuring the waist and adding about 2.5cm for ease, then extra for overlap.
  • Cut to the desired length and width.
  • Interfacing was sandwiched in between the two layers.
  • The belt was stitched with right sides facing, then bagged out.
  • Three rows of velvet ribbon were then stitched on.
  • Snaps were attached on either end.
  • Finally I made an organza flower.
To finish off I made a matching Clutch Bag, a must for every girl’s wardrobe! [caption id="attachment_5975" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Dress The vintage inspired 'Dotty Dress' by Lisa Sheridan[/caption] Lisa Sheridan. 2013 We hope you have found today's sewing blog as inspiring as we have. If you do decide to have a go at creating this design, please remember to share your pictures with us on Facebook. For more information about Lisa's work, please visit her online at www.lisasheridan.co.uk. Until next time! Calico Laine