Sometimes you happen to fall in love with a make even before you’ve got to the sewing part. That was the case with this dress, as soon as I saw my gorgeous fabric, I was transported to a sun drenched beach and was picturing a flowing dress with big statement sleeves to show off the gorgeous print.
This beautiful fabric is called Tropical Tiles and it’s from Minerva’s Exclusive Linen Viscose collection. I was so lucky to be gifted this as part of their Ambassador programme. I love this base cloth because it has all the benefits of linen without the creasing due to the addition of viscose. It’s lovely to work with and equally lovely to wear.
I researched lots of patterns because I really wanted to do this fabric justice and had a very clear vision in my head of how I wanted it to look. I finally settled on the ‘Hope dress’ from style arc and opted for the big sleeves offered in the extension pack. I also wanted to add a tie belt, (don’t ask me why, it’s just what I was picturing in my mind).
The Hope dress is cut with a raglan sleeve which I liked as it’s that little bit different to The Montana which I have made recently.
Style Arc pattern instructions are a little sparse if you are a beginner, but I have made quite a few dresses now so I didn’t have any problems. There are plenty of sew alongs online if you need them though, including one from the lovely Diane https://www.minerva.com/posts/1215488.
The instructions tell you to add a button fastening at the back (which I did) but I found that actually I didn’t need this as it slips quite easily over my head, which is great as fastenings can be difficult for me.
The dress is really loose fitting which makes it very comfortable to wear and I didn’t want to lose any of that, so I’ve tied my waist ties very loosely just to get the effect but without causing any tightness across my tummy.
I didn’t need to make any alterations to the pattern as it’s a very roomy fit and I was happy with the length. I’m so pleased to be able to wear longer dresses without them getting caught in my wheels.
As usual my hubby cut out my pattern for me using a rotary cutter and then I sewed the whole project on my sewing machine using a universal 80/12 needle and finished the seams on my overlocker.
I’m so happy with how the dress turned out, it looks exactly like I was hoping it would and it’s really comfy to wear. It’s getting its first outing this weekend at a Family Birthday meal so I’m looking forward to that.
Wheelchair Considerations
1) There is a centre seam in the bodice which some wheelchair uses may find uncomfortable, fortunately I don’t so I left it in,
2) I found that the fastening at the back of the bodice was unnecessary as as it easily pulled over my head.
3) The neckline is perfect for being viewed from above.
3) The dress has plenty of ease so is really comfortable to wear.
4) Despite having a full skirt there isn’t too much fabric bunched up underneath you when you sit.
5) I chose to omit the side pockets as I wouldn’t be able to reach them and I didn’t want any gape in the sides.
6) I love the full sleeves but they may be unsuitable for manual wheelchair users as they would get in the way.
(Image description: there are six images taken from different angles, showing Yvonne, sat in her wheelchair in her garden wearing a long cream linen dress with a mosaic style pattern of birds of paradise, flowers and lush tropical palm leaves. The colours are green, yellow, orange, and terracotta red.)
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