Nautical Inspired Emery Dress

I have just returned from a two-night staycation on Sentosa Island, having a blast with the family at Universal Studios Singapore, and street testing my wearable muslin. This nautical inspired number is fast becoming a favorite wear of mine with its flattering vintage silhouette,  adorable collar/waist bow details and fabulous fit.  While there is a vintage feel to it, I didn’t sew this from a vintage pattern.

 It is the newly announced Emery Dress pattern by the very talented Christine Haynes which is now available for pre-sales and I am honored to be one of the pattern testers!

View A comes with short set-in sleeves and flat 1960’s bow at the center of the waist. View B has 3/4 length set-in sleeves and a flat pointed collar.   Both versions come with an invisible zipper in the center back seam, waist darts in the front and back, bust darts, back of the neck darts, and in-seam pockets. I sewed View A but added the collar from View B (who could resist?!).

The main fabric I chose was a navy blue checked cotton with red twin dotted swiss and a white dotted swiss for the collar and insides of pockets, both from my stash.  I cut and sewed a size 6 (pattern is available from size 0 to 18) from the pattern sent to me without modification except for lengthening the bodice as I’m long-waisted. This is something I do for almost all patterns. I was already falling in love with this dress while fitting the bodice and thought it would make a delightful sleeveless dress as well.  The darts provided magnificent shaping to the bodice. The side view is very flattering with the fitted bodice and full gathered a-line skirt. And who doesn’t love in-seam pockets? This is an intermediate pattern. Instead of finishing with facings, the bodice is finished with a lining piece after zipper insertion giving it a very clean finish. The emery dress pattern comes with clear instructions and I find the illustrations very useful. Christine will be hosting a sewalong on her blog with collar, skirt and sleeves variations not included in the pattern come mid October. Can’t wait to check out all the variations! When a bodice fits this well, it only makes sense to make many variations of it. I was actually sewing my Asymmetrical Geometric Dress half way when I received the Emery dress pattern on a Friday afternoon. I went to work immediately and managed to cut the fabric. However, I couldn’t sew over the weekend due to family commitment and was utterly surprised that I managed to finish sewing the dress by Monday afternoon. The waist bow was added last-minute on Tuesday morning before these photos were taken.  A pretty fast and gratifying project I would say:) August has been a very fruitful sewing month for me as I managed to sew not 1, 2 but 3 dresses. And do check out the many gorgeous makes from ladies who participated in the Sew Weekly Reunion. You can find all contributors’ posts here  as well as creations from the lovely Sarah, Veronica and Debi! I am inspired and I think receiving all these lovely creations in my inbox throughout the month of August has made me sew productive! I hope they  inspire you as much as they did me! Have a blessed week!

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