A Stitching Odyssey: Violet Is A Bad Girl

After my first Violet Dress was mistaken for a nightie, I decided that Violet 2.0 was going to be a bad girl! If you ignore the pathetic attempt to channel my inner biker chick (I just look moody), then I think I've succeeded thanks to my fabric choice. I got both the wine-coloured fleck jersey and the quilted glossy jersey from Minerva Crafts for an absolute steal in their sale, but I think they've sold out of both as I can no longer find them online. Sorry!

I can't stress enough how much I love this pattern from Bluegingerdoll Patterns, especially the cool yoke detail, which dependent on fabric choice, can achieve so many different looks. This time round, to match my fierce aesthetic, I decided to omit the bust-line gathers for a less 'girly' bodice. Once again I made this up in a size 10, but where I went wrong was deciding to tinker with the sleeves for a snugger fit. I sized the armholes and sleeves down to an 8, not taking into account that my jersey was much heavier-weight than last time! As a result, the dress has tighter sleeves than desired and the bodice is pretty snug too. However, I've convinced myself this won't be a problem once I lose the extra pounds I gained over festive period! Serious lesson though: when tackling knit projects, really pay attention to your jersey's stretch factor!

I really, really, really love how the quilted yokes turned out! I ended up topstitching most of my seams down as they were quite bulky because a) my fabric was quite thick to begin with and b) I overlocked my seams as, contrary to most jerseys, these two frayed. I quite like the look of the topstitching though, so I don't mind.

The cherry on top of this Violet Dress is that it even fits in with my plans to have fun with knits this year, so it's a pretty good start to 2015 even if I do say so myself! How has your stitching start to the year been? And more importantly, have you whipped up a Violet yet?!?