It doesn’t take you looking around my blog too long to see that I am a huge Sew Over It fan! Almost all their patterns immediately make my to-sew list and the Heather Dress is no exception! I put off making this dress as I was nervous about some fitting issues, but decided to take the plunge last weekend and sew up my first Heather dress.
The Heather Dress is my dream dress! It is extremely comfortable, has pockets, in a beautiful knit and works well for casual and more formal occasions! I sewed this up to wear to work plus to a bridal shower I am attending later this month.
I chose a navy ponte knit (similar to the fabric used in my Zadie….I guess I like navy….) and it is a great fabric for this dress! It has enough body to be able to handle all the seaming done in the Heather Dress. Unlike the Zadie, I was able to sew the majority of this on my serger which was a huge plus!
My favorite part of the dress is the princess seams that turn into pockets. I am a sucker for dresses with pockets and this is no exception to that.
Unlike my Zadie, I did decide to hem this knit dress. I think it adds a nice finish to this more structured dress. I didn’t hem the sleeves as the cap sleeves were pretty short as they were and I didn’t want to add bulk by adding a hem to it.
Sew Over It’s patterns tend to be a good fit for me and I think this is a better fit for me than the Zadie dress. When the Heather dress first came out, I bought a pink and white striped knit that Lisa wore in one of the samples and I think that’ll be my next one that I sew up!
For my next one, I want to focus on getting the point where the pocket and princess seam meets the side seam more precise. It worked out just find this time, but I think I can get it better next time.
Before making this dress, I was nervous about the sizing due and since I couldn’t really make a muslin (I’m also terribly impatient…) I decided to make the 10 and use a 3/8″ seam allowance instead of the prescribed 5/8″. I still had some room in the dress, so I think a straight 10 the next time will be fine.