I had a chance to make a girly and feminine dress for myself using this lovely large scale floral fabric from Girl Charlee.
I have been a big fan of Girl Charlee for quite awhile now and I am so thankful to them for sponsoring this post!
A couple weeks ago, I was browsing Pinterest and came across several full length floral knit dresses that I really loved. They reminded me of some fabric I had seen on Girl Charlee, one of my favorite places to find interesting knits. They always seem to have something new and exciting! Every time I visit their website, I’m always left wanting more fabric than I could possibly sew.
So, after much (delightful) pondering, I chose their Mint Peach Big Floral on Navy cotton spandex blend. It’s a large scale floral with a navy background.
Aren’t the unexpected colors in this print just glorious?
I was really happy to find that the fabric has more of a “dressy” feel than most of the knits that I’m used to. The texture is smooth and silky, more like a rayon feel. But not too slippery… and it has a good amount of stretch. It feels really special when you put it on…slightly above “everyday” but not too fancy.
I thought it was the perfect fabric for the Ladies Magnolia dress pattern by Little Lizard King. I had been looking for a pattern similar to the one I saw on Pinterest…a high, gathered waist, long sleeves, and a high neck. The Ladies Magnolia was just right.
The pattern came together beautifully. I chose a size 8 based on the size chart. The pattern was so easy to follow. It is written in layers so you only have to print the size you need. And I only had to print the bodice and sleeve pieces…easy peasy!
Speaking of the sleeve, I chose to make my sleeves slightly longer than the 3/4 length on the pattern. I have made this pattern before and the 3/4 length came right below my elbow. So I decided to make this one slightly longer.
For the skirt, I just used the fabric width for the width of the skirt and cut the length to about 40″. I only had one seam and placed that at the back of my dress.
This dress is so quick and easy to make, I think I could make about 10 of them to fill out my spring wardrobe! And Girl Charlee has so many pretty knits to choose from, you could get a lot of variety with the same pattern.
If you decide to make this dress or use this fabric, let me know! I would LOVE too see it! Tag me on Instagram and show me a pic or leave a comment below.
Happy sewing!