Vogue 8903 - Navy silk jersey shirt-dress

This month's Mood Sewing Network garment is NOT another silk blouse. It's a... silk jersey dress. I may have a bit of a silk addiction. I just can't help it. Once I got over my fear of sewing with it, I want everything in silk! This fabric is from Mood fabrics and has recently sold out, but you can find plenty of other beautiful silk jersey prints here including another colorway of this print.

I had a lot of difficulty deciding on a pattern for this fabric. It really wanted to be a maxi dress but I'd only ordered 2 yards. It had to be a fairly simple design because of the linear print. Finally I settled on making a shirt-dress from Vogue 8903.

Initially I wanted to make the view with the collar and roll up sleeves but I didn't have enough fabric for the collar and the sleeves were too bulky to roll up. As a result this looks more like a fall dress then a spring one.

I'm not in love with how this looks belted and am toying with the idea of cutting a few inches off the bottom hem and wearing it sans any waist definition. The fabric is light weight and drapey and I'm thinking with the shorter length it will be sassy instead of kindergarten-teacherish. 

Dressform pictures:

While cutting the pattern out, I paid special attention to lining up linear print. Especially at the fronts I wanted the little fawns to match up perfectly. That was probably the most difficult part of making this dress. I had no fit issues since it's a looser design and my fabric is stretchy and I was also able to skip the muslin stage.

Isn't this print so fun? These little animals sort of remind me of Hugh Lofting's fabled push-me-pull-you from the book Dr. Dolittle. In hindsight I probably should have put some interfacing along the front button facings. The pattern didn't call for any but the neckline would stay up a little better and not flop over so much if it had been included. I always like front details like these pockets for the added volume they supply my small busted shape. These do blend in a bit, but would have looked awful if not matched up.

The insides were sewn with French seams including the armholes. I had to use some stretch lining from my stash for the inside yoke and pocket flaps because of fabric shortage.

Although the fabric was easy to sew with and the pattern simple and not needing any altering, I had to hardest time finishing this dress. My sewing mojo has completely evaporated. I really hope it returns soon because there are so many cute things I want to make!