The Fabric Fox Creatives is our way of collaborating and sharing the work of talented, crafty writers. Every few weeks we will share a guest blog from someone who has made something using our range of fabrics. To officially launch The Fabric Fox Creatives here is our very first entry by Victoria Maus.

Who doesn’t love a new dress for the Christmas season? For once, I even have a couple of things to wear one to, so when Kirsty kindly offered me some fabric I couldn’t resist this beautiful design. It was close call between this and some festive-looking llamas though!

It was really hard choosing a fabric as Kirsty has so many beautiful ones to choose from and I am a sucker for a good novelty print! However, the past 6 months I’ve been considering the ethical nature of my clothing, so I’m trying really hard to make better choices. I wanted to use a fabric that was more wintery than Christmas, so that I’d get more wears out of it. Of course the Gold Flakes Blue print was what initially caught my eye, but reading that it was made from unbleached cotton really sealed the deal. It seems like a more eco-friendly choice to me.

I decided to sew a McCalls 6959 wrap dress. I opted for View B because I really loved the collar. It’s a pattern I’ve had lurking in my stash for a couple of years and I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to get around it. Now I’ve made it, I can safely say it’s one of my new favourites and I’m already planning my next one.

Sewing my wrap dress wasn’t all plain sailing because of a few silly mistakes that are totally on me. Firstly, I was a bit worried that the pattern wouldn’t even fit me, as it goes up to a McCalls size 14 and my measurements were falling between their 16 and 18. When I ordered it, I wasn’t aware that pattern sizes run differently and being between a UK 12 and 14, I thought it would fit. Thankfully a muslin proved that the sizing was absolutely fine!

My second disaster also came from not reading the pattern envelope carefully enough. Don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson now! I’d managed to mis-read how much fabric I needed to make View B (with sleeves) in a 14. I asked Kirsty for 3m, but turns out I needed 4m. Rather than cheekily asking for some more fabric I decided to cut my facings out of a different fabric. I also rearranged the cutting plan meaning my back bodice was cut in two pieces instead of being folded. I had no fabric left for the belt so I decided to make bias binding out of the larger scraps and make a tie like in View A.

I used a polka dot fabric for my facings and used part of the selvedge to make a label for the neck facing. It was too pretty to throw away! One of the things I love about making my own clothes is adding little details like this, even if no one will see them. I also love that I can add pockets to everything too, so I used the pattern piece of Sewaholic’s Cambie dress for this. I didn’t have enough polka dot fabric for insides of my pockets to match, so they’re a plain grey fabric instead.

So, after it was all cut out, it was a very easy sew. I used the overlocking stitch on my Juki to finish off all of the insides to make sure my dress lasts a long time. The bias binding was used to finish the sleeves and the hem and I think it looks really good.

I don’t think that the seam down the back of bodice makes much of a difference and I’m really happy that I added the sleeves. The circle skirt looks great and I think that it’s the quality of the fabric that makes it hang just right. The pockets were definitely a good addition, I love a good pocket.

I wore my dress for the first time this weekend at a Christmas party with my karate club and got so many compliments, which was lovely. I’m hoping to get lots more wear out of it throughout the winter, most likely with jumpers though!

You can follow Victoria Maus on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. She also has her own blog called Thimble End, where she writes about sustainable sewing and ethical living.