Casual #EbonyTee Dress

After a successful Full Bicep Adjustment on my last #ebonyTee dress I hopped online and ordered some long-coveted ribbed knit fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics. The fabric arrived within a few days and whilst it was a bit more lightweight than I was expecting it was still pretty perfect for the Ebony, so here we are. I've really been struggling to find dresses/tunics for casual (yet somewhat put-together) wear and this fits the bill perfectly. I wore it out to a picnic today and it was perfect (despite the strong winds blowing my dress up and showing my underthings to everyone)!

Pretty pleased with my stripe matching on the sides. It's NOT quite perfect as my cutting was a bit off so there was some stretching to get it to sit this well. Near enough is good enough I think!

I decided to cut the neckband on the bias as I wanted all the colours of the fabric to be seen - I love the way it looks though do wish I'd cut a slightly wider neckband as I think they look nicer.

I REALLY like this dress but it was only until I sewed the hem that I decided that I liked it. As the fabric is so light it felt VERY long and frumpy (almost like it was getting longer as I sewed it) and I wasn't feeling motivated to finish at all but I forced myself to finish it off last night.  I decided on a 2" hem so it sits above my knees at the front and I think this really helps in making it not look like I'm being swallowed in fabric.

I bought the same fabric in a different colour way - I wasn't sure what I was going to make with it, but not it's definitely becoming another #EbonyTee dress.

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Pattern: Closet Case Files "Ebony Tee"
Size: 16
Modifications:  1" full bicep adjustment
Fabric: Darn Cheap Fabrics -  85% Polyester / 10% Viscose / 5% Elastane
Changes for next time: none  

Big guns need Full Bicep Adjustments!

I have quite literally made an exact replica of the Ebony Tee dress I made last May however this version has nice, comfortable sleeves. I loved that dress - the fabric was LOVELY, and I really loved the shaped too however the sleeves were just too tight so I never, ever wore it. I'd put it on to wear to work and then immediately take it off. Nope.

When I was at the Fabric Store last week I spotted more of this fabric and thought I'd buy 1m and take the sleeves off the old dress and replace them with new, bigger sleeves. Somehow I ended up with 2.5m "just in case" which is lucky as between the overlocking and problematic fabric I could not detach the sleeves.



The only change to this dress was to do a full bicep adjustment. I often find the sleeves on my clothes too tight so I was figuring I should bite the bullet and learn how to do one and I'm so pleased this experiment was successful. I read quite a few different posts/webpages about this adjustment and in the end settled on this one from the Curvy Sewing Collective. After measuring my bicep and the sleeve piece I needed around an extra 1" so this was the perfect method....

And ta-da! Comfortable sleeves. The adjustment has given me an extra inch at the upper arm which tapers to virtually nothing at the wrist. The original sleeve is too tight all over so I'm glad to have more room throughout.

I'm SO HAPPY with this new dress, so happy in fact that I wore it TWO days in a ROW #hearteyes! 

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Pattern: Closet Case Files "Ebony Tee"
Size: 16
Modifications:  1" full bicep adjustment
Fabric: Fabric Store - viscose 7.7.& /lycra 6% /polyester 17%
Changes for next time: none