Sewing for holidays

I'm off to Vietnam for two weeks in April. The tour I'm on goes from Hanoi down to Saigon - and it's going to be pretty hot and humid as it's the beginning of their very hot season.  I do have quiet a few casual dresses for summer, most of them sleeveless. I've read that in Vietnam it's polite to have your shoulders covered so I thought, in a first for me, that I'd sew a few dresses for the trip.

I'm going to sew up a few Gabby Dresses, and possibly take the Marianne Dress I sewed over my Christmas break. I'll also take a few of my ready-to-wear dresses to pad things out a bit.

The first Gabby Dress is made from a remnant I bought from Tessuti a few years ago. I never really knew what to do with it as the big flowers ran along the selvage...so I'm glad to have found a good for it. The fabric is a lightweight 94% Viscose/ 6% Spandex blend and I hope it can stand up to the hot weather. As it's cut along the warp it does tend to "grow" during the day so it's one that I cannot hang up - it lives folded in my cupboard.

Next up is another Gabby Dress in a modal/silk jersey blend.  The fabric feels SO THIN (so will be good for the hot and humid weather especially in Saigon)! It's interesting sewing the same dress in different types of knits. This one was taken in so much it's probably an M as opposed to my normal XL. I took the one in above a quite a bit too - so I'll say it's an L...it was also VERY long (and has a 2" hem, as opposed to my normal 1") making me think the dress stretched out somewhere along the way whilst sewing?

I think the neckband could be a smidge tighter on this one -- but the fabric was quite fiddly, reminiscent of the Liberty jersey I sewed up last year, so I didn't want to unpin it once I'd finally attached it ready to sew. Sadly, despite pre-washing, the dress shrank in the wash so I'll be going in the Vinnie's bag and not my bag for Vietnam. I tried to stretch it out when wet but it didn't work.

Straight off the back of this I had THREE fails. One, the fabric was too off-grain to work with (annoyed), another I was sewing when tired and just fluffed it up in about a hundred different ways, and then another with lovely fabric but not enough stretch to make the sleeves comfortable enough to wear (it will become a tee next summer).

And...this is successful dress #2 (that I made twice due to fluffing it up when tired - lucky I have 6m of this fabric from Pitt Trading). The fabric is a viscose and spandex knit and is quite light. It was OK to sew - a bit fiddly as it did curl a little bit but nothing too major.

 This dress is very comfy and will definitely be coming with me - it feels nice and cool to wear!

I've gone to so much effort (six dress and only two wearable) so I hope the Vietnamese appreciate my covered shoulders!

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Pattern: "Gabby Dress" by Tessuti
Size: XL
Modifications: lengthened by 5cm, neckline cut lower
Fabric: various

Changes for next time: none