Earlier this week, I shared my quest for dresses and the sewing patterns that are helping on the journey. I must say, so far it’s going quite well. Today I have my second version of the Mesa Dress by Seamwork Magazine/Colette Patterns (well actually my fourth version if you count a muslin and an unfinished version!). It’s totally my new favorite and I can’t wait to make it a part of my everyday wardrobe.
I love the basic shape of this dress. The simple silhouette is easy to wear and the knit fabric is both comfortable and flattering. Also, it has sleeves! Have you noticed that it can be hard to find a pattern with sleeves sometimes? I used the same fit adjustments as for the Sequin Shoulder version. You can find those details here.
I picked up the fabric from the Michael Levine Loft store in downtown LA. It’s a fun place to go (pay by the pound!) but you never know what you’ll find. You also don’t know the fiber content or origin of the fabric but it’s great for finding something on the cheap. This fabric is a thick knit fabric, kind of like a double knit. It’s actually very similar to the fabric I used for this Linden Sweatshirt. It’s great for this dress too because it’s not too thin (goodbye panty lines!).
The fabric was fairly easy to work with but because of thickness it was a little tricky to topstitch over the humps made at the seam lines. For finishing the hems, I used my conventional machine fitted with a twin needle and the walking foot. In the bobbin I used a wooly nylon (aka fluff thread). I really love this thread for topstitching knits for helping the twin needle stitching stay flat.
I’m super happy with how this dress turned out. I think it will be a piece that I can wear all year round, with boots and tights in the colder months and then bare legs in the warmer ones. (Here I'm wearing these booties. I've pretty much worn them non-stop this winter. Surprisingly comfy despite the heel!) Have you tried out this pattern? Do you have a favorite everyday dress pattern?
