The Walkaway Dress

Make number two for Me Made May is one I’m really really pleased with and proud of. Ladies and gents, may I present my Walkaway Dress.

I loved the idea of this dress when they made it on this year’s Great British Sewing Bee, and was delighted that the pattern was included in the new book this year (Fashion with Fabric). I got the book when it first came out, read through from cover to cover and picked out a few things I’d like to make, but then got distracted with other projects.

Anyway, we’ve been having a clear out at my Nan’s house and I came across these beautiful curtains. Mum said she can’t remember where in the house they used to hang, but they’d obviously been altered at some point because there were two main curtain panels and then four extra pieces sitting spare in a bag. They even had a label in them from St Michael! Vintage M&S, how lovely! Anyway, I gave them a wash and cut the curtain tapes off before I could figure out if I’d actually got enough for the pattern.

Fashion with Fabric comes with all the patterns printed on big sheets in the back of the book for you to trace off, but you can also download them from Quadrille Craft’s (the book publisher) website which is what I did this time. The download for the Walkaway dress is 50 pages so I spent a great couple of hours crawling around on the living room floor sticking all the bits together.

Going by the finished measurements given in the book, I chose the size 12 and cut the pattern pieces straight out from the printout. Personally I like having the pattern on sturdier paper that I’ll be able to use more than once. Laying the fabric and the pattern out was a bit of a nerve-wracking moment – would the curtain panels be big enough to fit the circle skirt pieces?!

Yes, of course, with plenty to spare. The dress front and back bodice pieces came out of one of the extra pieces of material. The skirt pattern piece has two length lines marked on it, the longer one being recommended for a different dress in the book that uses the same skirt. However, with the photos in the book as a guide and knowing my own preference for below the knee skirts, I cut out to this longer length. In the end it turned out to be far too long for the style of dress and the weight of the material so I had to cut some off again, but I’d rather that than have had it too short in the first place and not be able to do anything about it.

I had to make a trip to my local Hobbycraft to get some bias binding to do all the edging, but sadly they were quite lacking in the selection of colours and widths. I had to think a bit outside the box, but was inspired by the gorgeous selection of ribbons, and found this beautiful crochet lace style ribbon which was wide enough to be folded in half and cover the edges of the fabric. I’m really pleased with how it looks against the floral fabric, much better than any of the bias bindings would have been!

Actually constructing the dress was nice and straightforward. I pinned all the darts to check the fit and had to let a little bit out through the waist. The pattern is based on a 1950s dress, and although it has been updated for a more contemporary figure, it’s still a little slim on the waist, and I’m not quite there yet! Darts sewn in, the two skirt pieces attached at the centre back seam, the next stage was to attach the skirt to the back bodice. This needed a lot of pins to make sure the seams were eased in and matched up, and then manoeuvring it through the sewing machine was a bit interesting, I’m sure I ended up wrapped completely in fabric at one point!

Then it was joining one shoulder, binding the neckline and then the second shoulder seam. I’m really pleased with how the lace edging looks – I attached it with two lines of stitching for extra security and to hopefully avoid any fraying from the raw fabric edges, but the thread just vanished into the crochet lace so it doesn’t notice at all.

At this point I was able to try the dress on for fit and shortened the front and back skirts to just below my knees. Then it was on with a ribbon binding marathon. The hems are the only edges not bound with bias/ribbon, so the pattern recommends you start with the straight edges down the sides of the front and back skirts, and then the curved sides and armholes. I decided to do a rolled hem in the end, to try out the new foot with my sewing machine, and I'm pleased I did, it was so much easier to do all in one go than it would have been trying to do a double folded hem!

A rummage through the button box at home yielded a single plain button for the back, and these three for the front. A quick hand stitch and all done!

I’m so so happy with this dress, the shaping of the darts suits my body well, and the fabric is really pretty and summery. I know it’s a complete cliché but I did have a bit of a Sound of Music moment in my big swishy skirt made out of curtain fabric! Just need to remember to wear a slip underneath in case of any gusts of wind catching the skirt when I wear it, although the skirt has quite a lot of weight to it so fingers crossed I should be OK.

Has anyone else made the Walkaway dress yet? I’d love to see; I’ve read a few other blogs and seen pictures of people making it in a huge variety of fabrics which give it a completely different look. It’s definitely one I’d like to make again, but I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for bargain fabrics bearing in mind how much you need.

Me Made May in general is still going well, three weeks in and I’ve only missed a couple of days wearing something me-made, but I’ve probably been working on a knitting or sewing project those days so I think that counts towards my pledge. Now I just need some good weather and a suitable occasion to wear my new dress – but I might just wear it on a normal work day anyway to show it off!