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Colfax Midi Dress // Handmade Summer Dress Challenge

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

Today I'm sharing a Colfax dress that I made a few mods to and am completely in love with. I am happy to be sharing it in conjunction with the #handmadesummerdress challenge. This challenge is hosted on YouTube and Instagram by two lovely ladies; Lisa and Andreanne.


The challenge is simple! All you have to do is repost the above image; make a summer dress and share between now and May 21st; you can share about it on YouTube or Instagram, and be sure to use the hashtag and tag the hosts! You can see there are some amazing sponsors and you can find all the details on the prizes HERE!

And now for the details on my Handmade Summer Dress!

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

I made this dress in a linen/rayon blend from Joann's. If you can't tell, I'm sort of in love with that fabric blend, and I've found the stuff they carry at Joann's to be very good quality. I've had this fabric in my stash for quite a while, not knowing what exactly I wanted to make with it, but knowing that it had to be something GOOD, because I loved the print!

I should also mention, it's rare that they carry it in a great print like this, but they usually have an array of solids at my store. So when I see a good print, I snatch it up!

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

Well, I finally settled on wanting to make a Colfax dress out of it. But, I can rarely leave well enough alone on patterns and decided to make some mods! I was really wanting a midi dress, so I made it happen.

To do this; I added 5 inches to the skirt length. I added this in, 6 inches above the original hem line. This allowed me to use the existing hem facing without having to redraft anything there.

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

The other slight style change I made was to adjust the front armhole scoop to have more coverage. I raised the scoop about 1/2" at the front of the armhole and graded back out to nothing towards the top and also back out to nothing at the side seam. I didn't make any changes at all to the back scoop, so this way the side seams matched up perfectly.

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

After making those couple of changes, I sewed the dress together, finished seams and all, and then tried it on. Haha. I don't recommend this if you've skipped the muslin step! Eep. I ended up taking the side seams apart completely and adjusting a couple of things. Because I added so much length to the dress, it made it feel disproportionately wide. I took 1 inch of width off of each side, front and back, so 4 inches total. I took this width out between the bottom of the bust dart and ended it about 2 inches below the pocket.

I also raised the pockets 1 1/2 inches, they were too low for me to comfortably put my hands in them before and also added odd looking fullness below my hips. I actually think I could have raised them a bit higher still.

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

Overall, I'm really pleased with my new dress!! This fabric is so amazing to wear and this style is comfortable as well. 

My absolute favorite part of this dress is the arm and neck bindings and the front placket detail. It comes together so smoothly and it's just the most fun detail! I'm scheming all the things that I can hack this placket detail onto!

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

I like how this midi-length looks belted too. Plus it looks great paired with a cardi, for an even more dressed up look.

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

Colfax Midi Dress // Sewing For Women

I know this won't be my last Colfax dress! I really want one in the original, above-the-knee length too now!

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