It’s that time of year when I start getting into a lot of gift sewing, but I’m trying to be a reasonable person this time around. I have elected NOT to knit all the things for all the people, and there won’t be any neon pink faux fur coats this year. Instead, I’m making the same patterns for multiple people and leaving time for me to actually enjoy the holiday season with some sewing for myself! This is the first of two seasonal dresses I had in my head, and it’s also my first time sewing velvet! Voila – a crushed velvet Ebony dress!
I’ve made this pattern a bunch of times before, although I never blogged about. You can see one of my previous versions on day 6 of my 2018 Me Made May post, though. I have a dress-length version of the raglan view that I should blog about, because I still wear it all the time and it’s in this lovely jacquard. I’ve also made a lengthened version of the crop top (which I made in a colour I don’t actually like to wear), another version of the dress (with set-in sleeves) in Carolyn Friedlander Blake knit, and a solid turquoise dress-length raglan version. But the only one I actually still wear is the jacquard one, because the rest of them no longer fit me due to the changes in my body from climbing. I was lucky the first time I made the pattern that Patch was doing it as a workshop so I could try on their sample to check size. All my other versions I’ve made are a size 6 (even though at the time I measured perfectly into the size 10). Before I cut into my crushed velvet, I wanted to see what size I should actually be making now so I made a test version for fit. It’s totally wearable (although 3-4″ shorter than this one because I had limited fabric available in my stash), and confirmed that I should be making a size 10 this time around.
I got this fabric when I was in Montreal visiting friends in August. Last time I was in Montreal for any length of time was when I got the fabric for my purple polka dot Cascade duffle coat, which I found using the fabric shopping guide from Closet Case. This time, I was on the hunt for different fabrics than was my taste three years ago. I got a great white and navy striped knit, a woven magenta silk stripe that alternates moderately wide magenta stripes with translucent black ones, and this black crushed velvet. It came from Globe-Tex, which is in the industrial-ish garment district area of the city. It’s on the 4th floor of a warehouse building, and is worth trying to set aside any discomfort you may have about heading into a place that seems like it’s for “industry people” only. Because it isn’t! They sell to the public, and this crushed velvet (I don’t remember the fabric content but I think it has at least SOME rayon in it) was $10/m. It’s got a lovely drape and weight, a cool feel, and was very easy to work with! I’d heard so many horror stories about sewing with velvet, but aside from the fact that it basically wouldn’t press flat, I only had one little snag.
When I was sewing the neckband, which is very early on in the pattern, the curling edges of it meant that I missed sewing in one edge of the band so it was flapping around. Luckily it was right at the back of the neckline, so I just sewed it further in until it caught both edges and basically no one can tell. I serged all of the seams on this dress after sewing them first with a zigzag – my serger is from the ’80s and I don’t always trust it for actually sewing sturdy seams. On my test version, I used a twin needle to topstitch the neckband and hem the dress and sleeves, but on this one I used a zigzag. This is because I was sewing in the midst of our first real snow (aka slush) a couple nights ago and I broke my twin needle and couldn’t get a new one that night because everywhere was closed. And there was gridlock everywhere. Also, I just didn’t want to leave my sewing nest. So I just did a zigzag and I don’t even think it’s visible because of the pile of the velvet.
I’m really happy with this dress! Definitely a successful first outing with crushed velvet, which I’m pleased about because I have a beautiful navy velvet that I’ve been holding onto for a while. Any suggestions on what pattern I could make with it? I’m hoping for something a bit more…fancy than this one – since I’ve got this one as a great versatile party dress, I’m okay with the other one being a bit more of an occasion dress. Has anyone else sewn with velvet? Do you love it or hate it?
