It might seem to you that in the last period I’ve been only sewing projects with patterns I got with the Sew Now magazine. This is not true, just I seem to be prioritising them when I am writing my posts.

When I received issue 8 of SewNow magazine I knew that I will have to try making The Cocoon Dress from SimpleSew Patterns, even though the style of the dress is not too flattering for my shape. Nothing a little belt won’t solve.

Because the pattern has a centre front, I decided to make a design feature out of it, so I cut the front pieces in contrasting fabric. The red piece was from my friend Gemma (MustacioedThreads) and the black cotton was from my local Abakhan Fabrics store.

Being such a simple project, I did not use the instructions at all. The only change I made was to shorten the pattern by 5 cm to accommodate my petite frame.

Once I stitched my front pieces and shoulder seams, I used a scrap of interfacing to reinforce the V-neck. I stay stitched the V-neck area as well and drew my stitching lines before I attached the facing.

To finish off the facing, I under-stitched it and added a few hand-stitches to the seams on the shoulder and centre front seams to stop it from flapping about.

Once the facing I sew the side seams. It was much easier to stitch the facing into the garment before this step because the neckline was still flat and easy to work around it. For the seams that were visible, I used my overlocker to finish the raw edges. The hem stitching is only visible on the red part of the dress. I just did not fancy changing the thread.

I am pleased with the dress. It is very comfortable to wear. I do prefer to use a belt as without it, I look like an apple.  Also, it makes me look even shorter than I actually am.

I am very sure I’ll make another one of these dresses because they are comfy to wear and they come together so fast. I just need to find the perfect fabric for it.