{"id":10922,"date":"2014-08-13T05:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=10922"},"modified":"2014-08-12T21:57:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T04:57:14","slug":"sewing-for-me-the-summer-salvation-dress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=10922","title":{"rendered":"Sewing for Me: The Summer Salvation Dress (aka The Tent Dress) + Quick Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"knit-tent-dress1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, I give you the one-hour tent dress. This was a completely unplanned sewing project, and I’m pretty sure that if I saw this on a hanger in a store, I would dismiss it as shapeless and unflattering. Then again, I so often feel like my signature style is the muu muu, and this muu muu has been saving me from the hotter-than-normal days we’ve been having here in the Pacific Northwest. It hit 90 degrees on Monday, which meant that it was about 110 degrees in our un-air-conditioned house. Not fun.<\/p>\n

\"knit-tent-dress2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I needed something that wouldn’t cling incessantly or broil me alive as I tried not to wilt into oblivion, and this trapeze-style dress was the answer. I don’t care if it makes me look like I’m carrying quadruplets; I love love love it.<\/p>\n

\"knit-tent-dress3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s really not a whole lot to this self-drafted garment. I grabbed a bodice pattern piece lying around on my cutting table and loosely traced it onto this ribbed heather grey jersey then extended the side into a trapezoidal configuration. I figured the hem would become slightly asymmetrical — I was right, and I like it. I cut three strips (1-inch wide) for the neckline and armholes running parallel to the width of the fabric to get the necessary stretchiness and bam<\/em>, sixty minutes later, I was lounging in the world’s most comfortable dress. Using a rotary cutter really speeds things up and I didn’t even bother hemming the bottom.\u00a0If you can tell, exacting measurements weren’t going on here and I relied on a heavy dose of eyeballing. Not bad for a slapdash effort, I’d say.<\/p>\n

Okay, if I were to do it over again, I wouldn’t make the neck quite as scooped, but it looks intentional so I’m going with it. I even added a little pocket, mainly to remind which side is the front.<\/p>\n

I’m thinking I might need a color-blocked Summer Salvation Dress – what do you think?<\/p>\n

\"knit-tent-dress5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I created a bare bones, loosey goosey tutorial graphic for quick reference on how to construct a similar dress. It still needs to be refined, but it gives you the general idea.<\/p>\n

What you’ll need:<\/p>\n

– About two yards of knit fabric. Mine is a ribbed cotton jersey with a touch of \u00a0spandex. It has a nice drape but isn’t too thin
\n– Coordinating thread
\n– Ball point or stretch needle<\/p>\n

I own a serger\/overlocker which is great for knits, but I actually like to use my sewing machine zig zag stitch (width reduced to about 1.5mm and length increased to 3mm) to sew the seams and then I finish the raw edges with my serger. I do this because I’ve had problems with my overlocked seams unraveling easily in the past. Note: the finishing is optional since knit fabrics won’t fray. If I hadn’t taken the extra step of overlocking\u00a0the shoulders, sides, neckline and arm holes, this might have been a 30-minute dress….<\/p>\n

\"tent-dress-instructions\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For reference on how to attach binding for the neck, this<\/a> is an excellent tutorial. I used the same method for the armholes.<\/p>\n

Viva la tent dress!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I give you the one-hour tent dress. This was a completely unplanned sewing project, and I’m pretty sure that if I saw this on a hanger in a store, I would dismiss it as shapeless and unflattering. Then again, I so often feel like my signature style is the muu muu, and this muu muu has been saving me from the hotter-than-normal days we’ve been having here in the Pacific Northwest. It hit 90 degrees on Monday, which meant that it was about 110 degrees in our un-air-conditioned house. Not fun. I needed something that wouldn’t cling incessantly or broil me alive as I tried not to wilt into oblivion, and this trapeze-style dress was the answer. I don’t care if it makes me look like I’m carrying quadruplets; I love love love it. There’s really not a whole lot to this self-drafted garment. I grabbed a bodice pattern piece lying around on my cutting table and loosely traced it onto this ribbed heather grey jersey then extended the side into a trapezoidal configuration. I figured the hem would become slightly asymmetrical — I was right, and I like it. I cut three strips (1-inch wide) for the neckline and armholes running parallel to the width of the fabric to get the necessary stretchiness and bam, sixty minutes later, I was lounging in the world’s most comfortable dress. Using a rotary cutter really speeds things up and I didn’t even bother hemming the bottom.\u00a0If you can tell, exacting measurements weren’t going on here and I relied on a heavy dose of eyeballing. Not bad for a slapdash effort, I’d say. Okay, if I were to do it over again, I wouldn’t make the neck quite as scooped, but it looks intentional so I’m going with it. I even added a little pocket, mainly to remind which side is the front. I’m thinking I might need a color-blocked Summer Salvation Dress – what do you think? I created a bare bones, loosey goosey tutorial graphic for quick reference on how to construct a similar dress. It still needs to be refined, but it gives you the general idea. What you’ll need: – About two yards of knit fabric. Mine is a ribbed cotton jersey with a touch of \u00a0spandex. It has a nice drape but isn’t too thin – Coordinating thread – Ball point or stretch needle I own a serger\/overlocker which is great for knits, but I actually like to use my sewing machine zig zag stitch (width reduced to about 1.5mm and length increased to 3mm) to sew the seams and then I finish the raw edges with my serger. I do this because I’ve had problems with my overlocked seams unraveling easily in the past. Note: the finishing is optional since knit fabrics won’t fray. If I hadn’t taken the extra step of overlocking\u00a0the shoulders, sides, neckline and arm holes, this might have been a 30-minute dress…. For reference on how to attach binding for the neck, this is an excellent tutorial. I used the same method for the armholes. Viva la tent dress!      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sewing","7":"category-sewing-for-me","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10922"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10952,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10922\/revisions\/10952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}