Hey there! It’s Teresa here from Dandelion Drift and I’m thrilled to share my latest sew with you today! When I browsed around the Mood site to find the perfect fabric to sew with, my mouse continually brought me over to the silk section. I’m not a fancy girl, I’ve never sewn with silk, but for some reason I kept drifting that way. Well, I saw this silk and fell in love. Maybe it was the tropical print? (Hello Aloha Friday!) Maybe the crinkle factor? Maybe those little shiny thread dots? Who knows, but I was smitten with the crinkle crepe de chine silk on the website and I loved when it arrived on my doorstep in it’s little box!
I had the perfect pattern to pair with a silk print. Kelli, of True Bias, just released a new pattern, the Colfax Dress. I love the slight racer back lines of the dress and it’s a line shape is perfect!
I’ve sewn this dress once already in shirt weight fabric which yielded a completely different look. The shirt weight fabric doesn’t have much drape and shows off the a line shape of the dress. This Jason Wu crinkle crepe de chine silk has so much more drape and hugs the body a little bit more, and I love it!
I was nervous about this project for many, many reasons. First, I didn’t want to have to dry clean my clothes, so I went ahead and hand washed the fabric and line dried it inside my house. That’s my plan with the finished dress and I’m hoping it works out!
I also was nervous to iron the silk. I thought it would be a delicate fabric that I could ruin easily. And I wondered if I would iron out all of the crinkles. All of my worries were unwarranted, though. The fabric withheld all of my ironing (even making bias tape out of the silk fabric) and the crinkles stayed in place, phew!
More silk newbie worries over here, I wondered if it would fray and be slippery. Neither of those were an issue either. Maybe it’s the type of silk that made it pretty easy. Maybe you guys who aren’t silk newbies have some insight? Either way, this fabric was great to work with and I love it!
I sewed the Colfax dress in a size 4 and made a small bust adjustment to the pattern. I also omitted the pockets and the hem band. I actually attempted the hem band, but it was not cooperating with the fabric. I ended up just doing a small 1/4 inch hem at the bottom.
Here’s a quick glimpse at the sewing project info:
Pattern: True Bias Colfax Dress
Fabric: Jason Wu Crinkle Crepe de Chine
Size: 4, with a small bust adjustment
Adjustments made: SBA, lengthened one inch, omitted pockets and hem band
If you would like a chance to win a $50 gift card to either use in store or online and buy yourself some great fabric from Mood, I have a little giveaway on my blog. Hop on over for your chance to win! And thank you Mood for introducing me to sewing with silk…it’s been fun!
