Panama Tee & Dress // Sewing For Women / Handmade Frenzy

Panama Tee & Dress // Sewing For Women

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Panama Tee & Dress Pattern // Sewing For Women // Handmade Frenzy

Hey everyone!! Today I'm celebrating the release of the amazing Alina of Alina Sewing + Design Co's second pattern! It is the Panama Tee & Dress Pattern, which includes 2 dress length options, a tee and 3 sleeve lengths.

And by celebrating I mean, jumping for joy that this pattern is in existence. Both the Chi-Town Chinos and now this dress pattern, are exactly what I wear all day, every day. Having patterns that match what I already wear anyway, is basically just the best thing ever. Not just having the patterns, but having well drafted, high quality and simple to use patterns is everything.

I was thrilled to be able to test this pattern and made 2 dresses during the process.

The first dress I made was this striped number. The fabric is a ponte from Imagine Gnats that I've had for a while and I'm pretty sure I bought what was left at the time. She does have some other amazing options at the moment!

I made view B with long sleeves. There were a few minor changes made during testing, but what you see here is pretty much a size 6, with no changes whatsoever. The pattern is drafted for a B cup, height 5'2" - 5'7". I am a B cup, 5'3"

The shoulders were narrowed slightly in the final version, and you can see that as well in the second dress I made. Having not made one single change to the pattern with this dress, I knew I had found a sweet spot for myself. My bust and hip measurement fell exactly in a size 6, my waist is slightly bigger (thanks babies and chocolate), but there is the perfect amount of ease there so that no grading between sizes was needed for me.

I should mention that I didn't hem the sleeves on this one. I liked the wide black stripe at the bottom of the sleeve and didn't want to lose it, so I left it! I also love the slightly-too-long sleeve length on this one. I love a little scrunch at the end of my long sleeves.

Alina includes instructions on how to stabilize the shoulder seams in the pattern. This is something that I have been meaning to start doing on all my t-shirt makes anyway, so the reminder included was awesome! Plus she suggests a few ways to do it, some I certainly hadn't thought of, but now I'm excited to find creative ways to add some fun to the inside of my tees!

I love that something as comfy as a knit t-shirt dress, made in the right fabric can become a dressy enough outfit for a casual holiday party! Check that off my list...

For the second dress, I made the same view B with long sleeves, but with a few tweaks. I again made the size 6, but sewed it in a yummy classic heathered gray from LA Finch Fabrics. Because the french terry has a little less stretch than the ponte does, it produced a little closer fit.

I also shortened things a bit. I shortened the waist by 1/2", because the hip curve was hitting me just slightly too low. I took another 2 1/2" out of the hem length, and 3" from the sleeves.

There is a chest patch pocket piece included in the pattern. I felt like the gray needed just a little something to break it up, but wanted hip pockets rather than a chest pocket, so I just took the rectangular pocket patten and upsized it to fit my hand and then played around with the placement until I found what felt right to me and stitched them on!

I loooooove this paired with a scarf and boots. If I'm just at home, I'll ditch the boots for some leggings and cozy socks. This is my spirit animal pattern. For reals.

I made the scarf from a yard and a half of 100% rayon that I found at Joann's!! I followed the ever so timely tutorial posted on Indie Sew's blog. Unraveling those edges to create the fringe was mesmerizingly relaxing :)