Hey guys! The Washington Dress sewalong starts on Monday and I can’t wait to show you what a quick and easy make this is – a totally do-able challenge for beginners, and a walk in the park for more experienced sewists. I’ll take you through construction step-by-step and give you little tips that we didn’t have space for in the instructions. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments, and the sewalong will always be here so you can come back to it at any time.
Here’s the schedule so you can get prepared:
Mon. 7th – Fabric inspiration
Tues. 8th – Preparing pattern and fabric
Wed. 9th – Cutting and notching
Fri. 11th – Shoulders and neckband
Mon. 14th – Sleeves and side seams
Wed. 16th – Skirt
Fri. 18th – Attaching bodice and skirt
Mon. 21st – Hemming
Then you can parade around in your brand new dress and fend off compliments! I love wearing my Washingtons as day dresses, but you can also snazz it up into a holiday dress, and it’s even possible to hack it into a top or max dress.
I can’t wait to see what you make, so do share your Washington Dress on social media, using the hashtag #WashingtonDress.
And last but not least: we’re having a Washington Contest! Sew along, and then share your makes after the holidays by January 30th (midnight EST). There will be three lucky winners: one prize for Best Dress, one prize for Most Creative Use of Fabrics, and one prize for Best Hack! The winners will all receive $50 gift cards to Cashmerette Patterns, which can be used towards patterns, fabrics or sketchbooks. If you want to enter, then post your dress or hack on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #WashingtonDressContest, or email the link to your blog or Flickr to hello@cashmerette.com.
So, who’s in for a sewalong? Do you have any questions to kick us off?
If you’d like to add the sewalong badge to your blog, you can copy and paste the code below!
I love this dress! My waist isn’t very defined (I think it is 6 inches smaller than my hips and bust). I don’t have much experience fitting clothing for myself and am a relative newbie. Think I could make it work? I have hope that the A-line means it would work but maybe the wrap dress would be a better choice…
Hi Louisa – yes, it can definitely work! We will have a post next week on how to adjust the waist, and making it 2 inches larger for you (as the dress assumes an 8 inch difference between bust and waist) will be quite straightforward!
Yay! Thanks so much! I am super excited!
Hey Jenny! I may sew along when I get my paper copy! I ran out of fabric to try to fix the fit through my hips on my tester version so I’m excited to sew this again. I haven’t tried to fit many wovens on my strangely shaped lower half so I think getting the fit right on this might be a good starting point (it should be a little easier than say a pencil skirt). I may have missed this somewhere, but what changes were made to the final so I can know what to expect? Thanks!
Hi Megan! I’ll forward you the email with the info 🙂
I got my Washington kit today, and I love it! I’m afraid I probably won’t wait for the sewalong;) I didn’t with Appletone, either, I made it right away. I still read every bit of the sewalong, and I will this time, too!
I am glad I saw this post early on, I have time to prepare. Very nice colored fabrics used on the models, by the way. I passed this article to a friend and she is happy to sew along with me, yay!
Do I need to subscribe to this to receive the sewalong?
Hi! All the posts will appear here on the blog so you can either check in, subscribe by email (you can do that on the right hand side column) or follow Cashmerette on a blog reader (like Bloglovin’) or RSS feed.