Look at me go! I actually stuck to both of my holiday dress-sewing plans! I’ve already worn the first one out to The Nutcracker with my family, and it was a great success. So comfortable and swishy and I can see myself getting wear out of it even after the holiday season is over. The same goes for this Aubépine dress, made in a red Essex cotton/linen blend. This is my fourth Aubépine overall, and my third for myself. I previously wrote about the one I made for my mum to wear to my uncle’s wedding here.
This pattern is the first sewing pattern I bought and sewed when I moved to Toronto in 2014. I made a version in a Carolyn Friedlander quilting cotton (that I may eventually blog about because the fabric is faaaabulous) before I knew that quilting cotton was not always the ideal fabric for garments. I made it in a size 40 because I had no experience with Deer & Doe and didn’t make a muslin. It was slightly too big, and I ended up not wearing it that much. UNTIL I started climbing and realized that it was now the correct size for me. It’s now a regularly worn garment for me, and while the second one I made in a size 38 does still fit quite well, I knew I wanted to do a 40 the next time I made it. Also, side note on the Carolyn Friedlander one I made first: I discovered when I started wearing it again more frequently that I DIDN’T FINISH ANY OF THE SEAM ALLOWANCES when I sewed it. What was I THINKING?! They were just completely raw on the inside. And I had machine washed and dried it multiple times! Once I realized that, I went back in with my serger and finished the seams as well as I could. I think it’ll hold up quite well, it’s just hilarious to look back and see how foolish I was. “Ah yes, it says to finish the seams. I don’t know what that means, so I’ll just SKIP IT.” And it’s not even a joke, I know that was very likely my exact thought process.
Aubépine has these cute little tucks along the front bodice, and I love how it carries over onto the sleeves as well. The pattern comes with a longer sleeve version that has an elastic cuff, but I frequently feel constricted by elastic cuffed sleeves, so I’ve never made it. When I bought this, Deer & Doe actually had a policy that their patterns were not allowed to be sold online. I think they were trying to maintain a sort of boutique image for the brand, making it so you could only buy them in person? Obviously they’ve changed that since then, and now even have PDF patterns available and an expanded size range.
The dress is fully lined, aside from the sleeves, and this is what makes the casing for the drawstring to go through. It’s nice with a lining as well that you don’t have to worry about only having the seam allowance in terms of potential casing width on the inside, since the lining will be able to make a pocket even if you miss the edge of the seam allowance (hopefully that makes sense!). Aubépine calls for you to use a ribbon as the waist-tie, but I did this on my first version and it was a BIG part of why I didn’t wear it, definitely a bigger factor than it being slightly too large. The ribbon was constantly slipping and coming untied and not staying tight enough, and it drove me up the wall. Eventually when I was serging the seams on the inside, I also decided to swap out the ribbon for a skinny tie made of a solid cotton folded inward on itself twice. It was easy to switch it on my other dress because there was already a tie threaded through, so I could just pull it through using the existing ribbon. This one, on the other hand… I honestly hate pushing through a drawstring more than anything else. Buttonholes and zippers are no problem for me, but drawstrings are infuriating! Luckily this time I used the tip from a recent Love to Sew podcast episode to tape around the safety pin so it can’t come up inside, but it still took me a substantial portion of How The Grinch Stole Christmas to get it all the way around. I actually did it as soon as it was possible (out of order of the pattern instructions) because I knew it would bother me and I wanted it to just be done so it wouldn’t haunt me and prevent me from coming back to sew the dress.
Finally, can I just pat myself on the back for a quick second about those set-in sleeves?! It went so smoothly and tuck-free that I felt very impressed with myself. I think both sides look really jaunty and good, and dare I say it, perhaps even worthy of Patrick Grant’s approval?! I hope to wear this dress for at least a couple holiday events over the next week, and definitely I will wear it beyond that! I’ve made this dress in a cotton voile before, but honestly I do think that it is better in a slightly weightier fabric like this, because it gives the skirt good volume and structure, and makes it easier to sew the tucks! But that’s just my two cents. What’s everyone else sewing for the holidays? Or are you a more selfless human than me and just sewing gifts for other people?
