Izzy dress from FibreMood

Oh where to start with FibreMood! The love I have for this magazine is just ridiculous. The style, the lines, the potential of each pattern, IT’S JUST INSANE! I love their style top to bottom. There are several beautiful patterns in each issue and it gets even better because there are knitting patterns and children’s patterns!!!

It’s like an amazing, inspiring, one stop shop! Just glorious! Welcome to my review of the Izzy Dress from issue 6 of FibreMood magazine!

Let’s get to the details. I will make this rather quick as it is a pretty simple pattern!

I will discuss: 

Tracing the pattern

Fabric choice and notions

Sewing supplies

Construction

Fit

Tracing the pattern:

If you buy the magazine (because it’s awesome) you will need to trace your pattern. When you start to open the patterns in the book, it can be very overwhelming. The key is to first visit the page that has all the details of the pattern. There is a list of pattern pieces there and their corresponding shape. This will help you in your tracing process. Each pattern piece is typically broken up into several smaller pieces. The pattern sheet is double sided, so make sure you look on both sides. Make sure you find the color and line that corresponds to the pattern you are making and your size. After you do this, it becomes easier. The pattern numbers are labeled on the sheet and you need to pinpoint one edge and start tracing. IF YOU WANT SEAM ALLOWANCES, YOU HAVE TO ADD THEM!! I had many pattern pieces that I had to trace in 2-3 parts and then tape together. If I had known this getting started, I would have positioned my tracing paper to continue tracing the piece at the connection instead of tracing 3 different pieces and then piecing them together! You need to find the top piece and then go from there. If a large piece is broken up into several pieces, they are labeled with an A, B , C, etc. You will need to look closely at the final shape on the information page to make sure you have enough room to continuously trace the whole thing. Most of the time the rest of the pattern piece is on another sheet. Good luck with this part! You can do it!!

Fabric choice and notions: The pattern requires you to have buttons that look best if they are nice and large in my opinion, so make sure you gather those! I used contrast buttons! You will also need fabric that compliments the pattern nicely, and I used some that had some shape to it to give me a nice stable wrap. I liked using a little bit heavier fabric to add drama. I think the faux suede really lends itself nicely to the pattern. I think some printed fabrics with interesting designs would be lovely. Maybe a faux snakeskin or leather. This dress takes you a bit on the wild side and makes me feel super amazing! The only thing I would like to say about fabric choice is that keep in mind the way the fabric would move on you. The dress is not super loose and my fabric tends to ride up and stick in certain places. If I truly wanted to avoid this, it would have been useful to line the garment. However, it moves well, just noticed that it would have been improved with lining. 

Sewing supplies: 

Needle choice is very important for this. I ended up starting with a leather needle but switching to a stretch needle that was a 90/14 size. This is because I did not realize that my fabric had a little bit of stretch to it and my machine was skipping so many stitches. I noticed this is after I had almost assembled the entire dress! I had to go back and restitch and rescue so many areas but all is well now! All this to say, needle choice is very important! Look at this pretty seam with no skipped stitches!

I also used clips to hold my fabric together for sewing instead of pins. When you pass a pin through this type of fabric, it tends to leave a hole that doesn’t go away. This is important to know in case you really want to use pins. Make sure you pin within the seam allowance. 

Seam allowances: This kind of material does not really fray! You don’t need to finish the seams! Simply press your seams open and then you are good to go!! 

 I used silk organza as a press cloth so that I could see through it and it would add a barrier to my fabric in case it didn’t respond well to heat. You may take a swatch of your material and test it to be sure.

Construction: It went very smoothly, however, I was a little confused as to how to complete the two front bottom corners. I did my best and made them square but I know the pattern was saying something different. I first attached it to the hem, but you will notice the facing is not long enough on purpose. I then folded the seam allowance up and stitched down the side and then trimmed the seam corner and folded it right side out. This makes a nice corner. Fortunately, it turned out very well! I also graded this seam and graded several other seams whenever it seemed appropriate

I decided to place my buttons on after trying on the dress. I made my button holes and then tried on the dress to see where I would like my buttons to be. I made a mark with a water soluble marker and voila, my buttons had spots and I sewed them on!

Fit: I have already spoken about the type of fabric and the way it feels on your body above. I also noticed that since I do not have much of a bust area, the wrap was a little too loose and not wrapping over enough. There was nothing to really hold the wrap piece closest to your body in place. This is not too much of a problem if I wrap it tight and try to tuck it in and then use the tie to hold it down; however, it would be nice to not have to worry about that. I think maybe attaching the wrap a little bit lower and making it a with a little less length along that bias edge would be helpful for me!!

I hope you enjoyed my blog and pattern review reminiscing on my first experience with a FibreMood pattern! There will be many more makes from that magazine to come! I cannot wait to delve into all of their other patterns!

Nothing was sponsored or given to me for this blog post! 

Dress: Izzy Dress from FibreMood magazine issue 6

Boots: Sam Edelman