Holiday Party Ensemble featuring Innocent Crush!

Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line is pretty fabulous. The color scheme is sophisticated, modern and incredibly versatile. Looking at the prints just made me want to sew a holiday party dress and jacket.

Here is the lovely Arleen, modeling the jacket and dress. A Modern Day Alice in Wonderland I think!


The home decorator weight cottons are perfect for outerwear. It is thicker and has a great sturdy weight for a jacket. Turn of Events Blush lined with Maybe Sixpence voile made for a really beautiful combination. Of course, I think you could pair any of her prints and have it look amazing.

Jacket Exterior, Turn of Events Blush

Jacket Lining, Maybe Sixpence

Amy Butler's Sandlewood Jacket pattern is really a terrific jacket pattern that is very user-friendly. The instructions are clear and she includes a lot of well-labeled diagrams. It is a nice pattern to try if you are interested in slightly more advanced garment construction. The back pieces have a curve to them and back darts, making the jacket fitted and sophisticated. The pattern included instructions for a fabric tie but this jacket would look fabulous closed with big buttons or a skinny belt.


I have two comments/tips for this pattern:

First, the bottom hem is a little tricky. The jacket widens at the bottom so when you turn over the bottom to hem, you end up with a little extra bulk that you have to ease into the hem. It looks fine from the outside but it does create a few wrinkles on the inside.

Second, the pattern doesn't call for you to under stitch or top stitch around the front and collar but I think it is a nice addition to make the jacket look a little more finished.

 

Evening Empire Dress Fabric, Mixed Signals, Striking

 I have been itching to try the voile for garment sewing since I first felt it and the Mixed Signals Striking was a fun print to try out. The print itself is modern and a little funky. The silkiness of the fabric itself and the way it drapes makes it pretty awesome to work with.

Anna Maria Horner's Evening Empire Dress pattern was the perfect choice for the dress. The bodice has a very cool triangle detail that also creates a really lovely shape for the bust. The empire style makes constructing the body of the dress very quick and easy. The dress is lined, which is great, especially if you are sewing with the voile, which is a little shear. Anna Maria's patterns are very well done and her instructions are clear and easy to follow.

I have two comments/tips about this pattern:

First, the pattern calls for you to machine sew the lining to the invisible zipper. For some reason this really scared me, but I pushed through the fear, gave it a shot and it worked out perfectly. I just started at the bottom of the zipper and sewed up to the top of the dress. It looks awesome.

Second, the pattern calls for you to gather the lining the same way you gather the exterior fabric for the body of the dress. This dress is lined with Black Kona Cotton Solid Pepper, which is a little thicker than the voile. I felt that having two layers of gathers under the bust just added too much unnecessary bulk. When I make this dress again, I will reduce the width of the lining so it is more fitted and won't cause any extra bulk.

Good luck and happy sewing!
The Fabricworm Girls