Dashy Seamwork jo — apple franca

I ordered this fabric for a button down shirt initially, but then changed my mind about what to make to this Seamwork Jo. I made this a while ago and haven't really worn it much initially, but I recently dug it out and I really like it now, and have worn it quite a lot. So I decided to make another.

The fabric is tencel twill, which I generally love! You used to not be able to get it in prints much, but now it's a print on demand base for Minvera I am a happy bunny. This is my second time using this base, and I do think it's changed ever so slightly, what I used before was a smidge lighter and more stable than this, which has quite a substantial feel but is drapier, and also quicker to fray. I wonder if the fabric supplier has changed? I like both kinds though!

The pattern is from the Terrance Williams collaboration, he is a fashion/print designer, one of the big Minerva collaborators. This lovely uneven dash design is called Tender Tally

Even though this was my second time making this pattern, I had a bit of nightmare and a lot of things went wrong. Because the fabric is quite slinky, I don't think my cutting was super accurate, and combined with a bit of stretching out, I ended up with one collar piece being like two cms higher than the other. I managed to fix it, but pulling threads out of the fabric in the unpicking, so it's not perfectly neat. It’s also very sloightly lower on the side that was initially higher. But it will do, I don't think any non sewing people would notice

There was also a couple of things I ended up not fixing. Firstly, despite thinking very carefully about fabric direction for the different pattern pieces, I managed to somehow cut the two sleeve bands in different directions, so one has the dashes going vertical, and one horizontal. I do have enough fabric to recut one side, but I'm worried I'd fray the bit where it attaches and then it would be worse. Plus I’m lazy and I think it's a fun 'spot what's wrong' thing!

The other thing that went wrong is three of the four button holes didn't work on first go, so they have a line of failed button hole lines next to the successful ones I eventually managed to make. I don't want to unpick these because that definitely would destroy the fabric. I'm never very good with automatic button holes, I think the reason these went wrong in particular is that the placket is very narrow, and the hole went into the bit where all the seam allowances are, ie through four layers of fabric and 2 interfacing. I wonder if I should have done the holes vertical actually!

Anyway, all of these problems notwithstanding I really like this dress! The fabric has such a nice feel and it looks great. I particularly like the dashes running in different directions