My Teal Emerald

I finished the Emerald dress yesterday and I am quite happy with it. I know this will get a lot of wear this summer.

Besides lengthening it—which I am very glad I did—I made a few minor changes. The instructions were somewhat vague about the topstitching. The pattern cover shows topstitching along the front and back seams, but I skipped that. I also topstitched close to the garment edge, rather than along the edges of the facings (about 2" in from the edge). I prefer more subtle topstitching that doesn’t emphasize the facings.

I love the bias drape. A YouTube sewist I follow says that she has yet to see a bias-cut garment that isn’t flattering on all bodies, and I agree. The V-neckline is perfection. I am undecided about the uneven hem; I think I would prefer a straight one. That Brussels Washer Linen is a dream to work with.

I did not like the sleeve facings and will change them if I make this again. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they were done they way they were. The facings are a crescent shape attached to the sleeve openings before the side seams are sewn. I had to do a lot of monkeying around to get them correct, and to me, they look amateurish and spoil the clean lines of the inside of the garment. I would extend the ends of the sleeve facings enough to sew them together into a full circle around the armhole opening. I suppose that because this is a grown-on sleeve, the designer was trying to minimize bulk at the base of the armhole opening, but I don’t think that extending the facing into a complete circle will make that opening uncomfortable, and it certainly will improve the appearance of the inside of the garment.

I’m still undecided on this pattern as a class. Making it took much longer than expected; I usually multiply my construction time by three to get a sense of how long a class would take, and that puts this one up around two full days. I’ll take the dress to the store and show the owner and talk to her about it.

I plan to shorten this to a tunic length and make a few tops. I’d be hesitant to make this pattern in a rayon challis or even a rayon twill, because cutting and sewing a fabric like that on the bias likely would drive me around the bend. Even with this relatively stable linen fabric, as soon as I cut each pattern piece for this dress, I took it straight to the serger and finished the edges so they wouldn’t stretch out. This dress can also be made by cutting the pattern pieces on the straight of grain, although there is less drape that way.

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I made a nice dent in the to-do list yesterday, but I need to attack the rest of it today. The indoor lettuce system needs to be cleaned out. I planted a tray of fresh rooting plugs with lettuce seeds and took the tray out to the greenhouse. By the time I get the current system cleaned out and washed, the seeds should have germinated and the plugs will be ready to move back inside.

We are supposed to be back into the 60s next week, and hopefully done with winter for good. This is Montana, though, and one never knows.