The Real Christmas Dress: Tate Dress

Merry Christmas everyone! I blogged earlier in the month that I'd made a lovely Liberty Alder Shirtdress and that I'd wear it Christmas day as I didn't have time to make a Christmas specific dress. The Monday night before Christmas I changed my mind. I saw some stunning silk on the Tessuti online shop and decided to make a dress version of the Free Tate Top pattern to wear Christmas day.

I only had Christmas Eve to make the dress as well as quite a few other chores to do so I'm really glad I chose such a simple pattern and one I'd already made up once. I modified the Tate Top Pattern by adding 8" to the length from the hem front and back. I also marked the Hem 2"wider at the bottom side seam and graded form the waist notch down to the new hem.  Huzzah, it's now a dress pattern!

I bought this gorgeous Silk crepe de chine called Envy Part One that I can no longer see on the Tessuti website. It was slightly sheer so I also bought some cotton/silk voile to line it. The fabric was gorgeous to work with and I was very lucky to have received some fine fabric pins from my Social Sewing Secret Santa on the weekend which made working with the silk that much easier. Warning: fine silk pins can go very deep into your fingers , very quickly, before you notice and they are even trickier to find on the carpet. 

The Tate top doesn't have any instructions and isn't designed to be lined. I simply cut two versions of the dress (one in the silk, one in the voile) and sewed them together at the neckline and armhole before turning right side out and seams the side and back seams. It's a very easy pattern to line!

I used a black fabric button and self fabric loops for the closure instead of a zip or hook and eye. I really like the way it looks.

The Tate Top is designed with a back hem scoop. I kept this feature on the dress rather than straightening out the seams. I think the curved hem scoop adds to the floatyness of the dress. The dress was perfect for Christmas day, a little bit special as well as comfortable with plenty of belly room for the excessive eating and drinking.

Here's a picture of Tim and I Christmas  morning. Tim's wearing his new Thread Theory Jedediah shorts which I'll blog in the next few days. I have lots of Christmas gifts to blog about and they were all well received. We had a wonderful between my family and Tim's with absolutely stunning weather.

I'm on holidays for the next two weeks and I'm hoping to spend at least some of that time sewing new things for myself. Holidays, Woohoo! Today I'm off to my sister's to give her a sewing lesson on her new machine, and I just happen to be wearing my Alder Christmas shirtdress which is now more of a Boxing day dress. Happy holidays everyone, I hope you had a lovely day yesterday/today with family and Friends.