A "Blue Moon" Lady Skater dress

I've taken my love-hate (formerly hate-hate) relationship with print-at-home pdf patterns to the Lady Skater dress by Kitschy Coo (available here).

It is described as:  "This funky yet functional knit dress has a fitted bodice, scooped banded neckline, a curved flared knee-length skirt, and options for trimmed cap sleeves, or banded ¾ length sleeves or long sleeves. It's designed to flatter the figure with a waistline that hits at the natural waist and a skirt that gently skims over the lower waist and hips."

I thought this might be a great compromise between my enjoyment of sewing and wearing dresses and my casual work dress code.  And I love knits! So here we go. I cut the size 3, based on their size chart, and decided to make the 3/4 length sleeve.  My fabric was a funky rayon-lycra knit from Mood Fabrics:

Light-medium weight, but heavy enough to make a dress that's not see thru or indecent.
I bought it almost a year ago and hadn't decided what to use it for.
I carefully matched my patterns, even though this fabric is a bitch to try and lay out on a fold.  But its pretty!

This sewed up SO quickly.  I made it in a few hours. I stabilized the shoulders and waist with clear elastic, as instructed. Its been a while since I sewed a fabric that my machine likes to chew up and spit out - I like to use register tape at the beginning of my seams to prevent my machine from eating them.  I also use a  straight stitch to backstitch and then switch to a zigzag or lightning stitch, again, to prevent my machine from destroying it.

Register tape is your friend with a fabric like this.
I like that the neckband is sewn on flat (and the sleeves!!), because I had an extra 1.5" or so when I was finished, and now its nice and flat instead of having that extra saggy band.
Nice and flat!
This dress was short - I hemmed it with a 5/8" hem instead of 1". I'm so used to lopping off 6" from skirts (tops, dresses, everything!), its a shock when something is right on! If I were making a fun non-work version, I'd go a little shorter. But its above my knee as is.


The end result is - I LOVE IT. So simple, yet so well-done.  The elastic gives the waistline some body, I don't feel like I'm wearing a saggy tshirt.  Yet it's as comfortable and flattering as a soft tshirt!

No swayback extra fabric! No adjustments needed.
My patterns is *mostly* matched, but as you can see, its trying to make a break down the left side of my body....
Thinking about how many more of these I'd like to make....
It's called a 'skater dress' because it resembles a figure skating outfit, apparently.  Here I am preparing for a triple lutz...
I got a bunch of compliments on it when I wore it to work the other day - such an easy pattern, the fabric is doing all of the work! Thanks Mood!

 I think it would make a great wardrobe staple in solid colors, but what I'm giddy about is that I think this will be a great pattern to accommodate my love of crazy knits!  I love bold knit prints, but am trying to sew wearable stuff, and slinky knit dress and wrap dresses aren't everyday for me. The life of a geologist is not that glamorous. But the simple design of the dress and casual, wearable style make it a good match for a bold print. I can't wait.....my stash of knits is about to get busted.






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