Givre Maternity Dress – I made my clothes

As you have noticed, I haven’t managed to sew and post almost anything in the last months. There’s been something new that has kept me away from my sewing room and blog. Besides some new jobs, including teaching in evening sewing classes (I’ll tell you about these courses soon), there’s this big news I can’t keep hidden anymore…it’s quite evident now! We’re expecting a baby and we can’t wait to meet him or her at the beginning of August!

The early months sickness and tiredness didn’t make me want to sew anything, but now that I’m six months pregnant and feel definitely better, I’ve come back to my sewing studio and I’ve got new sewing projects in mind for my little baby and me.

For me, besides the Aubépine Dress I made about three weeks ago, I sewed up the Givre Maternity Dress by Deer and Doe. I bought the PDF pattern (available in English and French) on their website.

The pattern includes two versions of the garment: a long-sleeves or a sleeveless dress/t-shirt. I chose the sleeveless version of the dress (version B) because I’m gonna wear it over spring and summer.
Furthermore the pattern includes two sizes of belly, 3-6 months and 6-9 months. Being already six months pregnant, I chose the 6-9 months size.

I could choose my size on the PDF pattern, so I went for a size 40 on the PDF levels and printed it. I stuck the A4 sheets together and cut my paper pattern. I checked the finished garment measurements and looked for some pictures online to see the length of the dress. I decided the lenght of my skirt with the help of my sewing tape measure and I shortened the dress pattern by 12 cm.

Then I cut the fabric. I chose a green-olive-cold-dyed rib knit fabric, 60% organic cotton and 40% bamboo (weight: 170 gr/m²), I bought on Maeko Tessuti online fabric shop. I recently came across their online shop…they are from Milan and produce and sell natural/organic fabric, all made in Italy.

I basted the dress to test the fit on my body. It was perfect on the bust, but it was large on hips, so I had to cut 2 cm on each side (tot 8 cm) from the hip to the hem.

Then I sewed the dress up with my serger using a two needles/four threads stitch (sides and shoulders). I used my new cover stitch machine for finishing the dress… I managed to try it out finally! I still have to test it better in order to understand how it really works, above all thread tensions that I couldn’t set in a proper way: Anyway I’m quite satisfied with how it came out, it’s not so bad! I’ll try it out checking the instruction manual further.

Janome Cover Pro 900CP is the machine I chose. I was given it as a birthday gift by my parents. We chose the machine together at my favourite local sewing machine dealer in Milan. It’s second hand used only about two/three times, so as good as new!

It’s a two needle coverstitch machine so it can do only two stitches: a 5 mm high cover stitch (two needle three thread) and a chain stitch (one needle two thread). I chose this machine in particular because I’m not interested in the three needle four thread cover stitch at the moment (I’ve been finishing my jersey hems with a twin needle only so far) and it was going cheap because second hand, it was half the price of the others. I hope it’s been a bargain!

I hemmed the dress using a cover stitch and I sewed the bands to the neckline and armholes with a chain stitch. Then I used a chain stitch again for topstitching them. I didn’t find the right thread tension for the cover stitch and the topstitch seams are not exactly straight. I’ve just found out that there’s a center guide foot for lining up the stitch with a previously sewn seam. I think this is gonna be my next buy!

I finished the bands and the neckline/armhole with my serger before topstitching them. I used polyester light grey threads I already had at home on my serger and a matching green-olive thread on my cover stitch machine.

I really like this dress in the end and I think I’ll wear it a lot in the next months. I’d like to sew a bodysuit for my baby with the remnant of this organic fabric…I’ll keep you up to date!

As you have noticed, I’m taking part in Fashion Revolution week (23-29th April 2018) as a maker even this year, because “I made my clothes”. Last year I wrote a long post about Fashion Revolution movement (here), explaining how we can change our habits as costumers to join this movement in order to buy less, care for our clothes better and make them last, not only during this week but all year round. You can find more info about Fashion Revolution events on their website (for Italy here).

Furthermore, for makers who want to join Fashion Revolution, Emily from In the Folds, has launched an IG Photo Challenge (#makersforfashrev) to promote thoughts, discussion and inspirations. More info on her IG profile.

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