Everything Your Mama Made Pattern Testing

I was lucky enough to be chosen to test this fabulous new pattern by EYMM.

The description of this pattern is:

"The ‘Off The Shoulder Cowl Neck Dress & Peplum Top’ is a simple and modern top and dress with an inviting neckline finish. The upper and mid sleeves are fitted, with a looser, open wrist and a longer length."

It has many different lengths and skirts styles, and I naturally went for the below the knee circle skirt option. This Pattern calls for the use of a knit fabric, making it a stretchy, easy to fit, comfy design. Seeing as I don't keep too many knits in my stash (and the deadline was 3 days!) I chose to go with a glittery red fabric that I bought a whole bolt of when my favourite store, Clarksons, closed down. I have made quite a few dresses out of this fabric before and I just love it!

The Red dress in this is made from the same fabric. 

Before I even began to Sew mine up, I noticed in the Tester group on Facebook, that the waistline on this dress looked quite low. I like my circle skirts to start at the smallest part of my waist. I mentioned this to the pattern designer, and she said we could shorten the bodice by up to 2 Inches if we wanted, but she did want to see how long the bodice was on me before I altered it. So I got to Sewing..... 

The bodice before alteration 

After I cut 2 inches off the bodice. The weight of the skirt pulls it so it sat at pretty much the same spot. 

I ended up taking just under 5 inches off the bottom of the bodice, to get the waistline to sit where I wanted it. This was mostly due to the amount of stretch in my fabric, as well as the weight of the skirt. The longer bodice definetely works for the peplum length, but needs to be shortened if you want the added weight of a full skirt. I believe the designer has now added a second, shorter, cutting line to the bodice pattern, for the skirted option.

As this dress has a fairly loose fit, and is made in a knit fabric, it really does need a belt or sash to cinch in at the waist, and looks great with a petticoat. I wasnt sure about this dress as I was sewing it, but now I absolutely love it! I think this will become a staple in my wardrobe for next winter for sure! 

This pattern is available, only as part of a Sew Fab Winter pattern bundle of 10 patterns, which you can find here for only US$29.95. Thats less than $3 a pattern! This pattern will be available for purchase by itself, sometime in the future.

This pattern is a great introduction to working with knits, and is versatile with a few different options. The peplum top looks great with leggings and boots, while I love the 50's look of the below the knee circle skirt.

I really recommend this pattern for a great winter 1950's style dress.

Dixie 

P.S. I seem to be having some format issues with this post, that I cant seem to fix. I hope everyone can read it ok.

P.P.S I think I've fixed the formatting issue now... I hope