Chambray Blue Ridge Dress

Life over here has been all kinds of hectic lately!  It's report writing time at School on top of all the extra planning I'm finding I have to do this year so the sewing (and blogging about it!) has slowed down a whole lot.  Luckily I managed to put aside a little time the other day to finish a couple of projects and photograph a whole lot of them.  We've also just started painting where I usually photograph things inside so please excuse the power points! 

This is a chambray Blue Ridge dress by Hello Holli.  It's one I've almost bought a few times, but I finally took the plunge when I realised it would work as a starting point for my Stormtrooper dress.  I made this version up first to check the fit and kind of love it. 

The chambray is one I've had in the stash for a while and when I saw this pre-made bias binding I thought it would work well for this dress.  Plus it meant I didn't have to make any bias binding which was a bonus.  I think we need a few more every-day dresses around here lately and this fits the bill.  It's still a beautiful dress, but it's also perfect for Childcare or just playing around the house.  It layers well with the long sleeved tops and leggings which is great for the cooler weather which has finally arrived.

The pattern itself was pretty good.  I'm not a huge fan of using bias binding (i.e. fear and loathe it) so that was a bit of a pain.  This is actually the size 4 tunic length.  I didn't use the allocated 2 inch hem allowance so it has come out a bit more dress like but I think the dress length would have been miles too long.  She's at that funny stage of being in between sizes a bit.

The construction was a bit fiddly but the instructions are clear and there is a sewalong on the website which helps as well.  The bodice is lined but I'm not 100% pleased with how the placket has lined up for me.  Some of the fabric didn't quite line up together so I had to hand sew a little bit.  It's a very different way of putting it together and I think I may play around with it a little the next time I make it.

All told though I'm really pleased with how the dress turned out.  It's one of those lovely designs that can be made just that little bit more special very easily.  I'd love to make another plain one with some liberty binding, or a nice tiny print with plain binding.  Having said that though I think I need a bit of a break from bias binding for a little while, but it definitely won't be too long!