Kaleidoscope Hughes Dress with Jen

I’m Jen you can find me @jenlegg_teescreatives. I’m a hairdresser and I own TeesCreatives Sewing School situated in upper floors of my salon. I’m totally spoilt to have both passions combined under one roof. I have a love for colour and jumpsuits.

I have a lot of time on my hands with lockdown 3 so to be honest I reached out to Steph to be a guest blogger. Obviously she said yes!

Online fabric shopping can be hit or miss but I love how Steph showcases her beautiful fabrics, you can almost feel the quality through quality captured by the camera. Choosing just one to work with was so difficult. I ended up deciding on this Kaleidoscope Print Viscose Challis as I loved the colour combination and I have a thing for yellow tones at the moment, the print reminds me of old Dutch plates. It’s a great print for a beginner as due to the irregularity of the pattern you don’t have to think to much about it when cutting out. I’m in the minority I know I love this stage but with some prints it can go wrong. I once made a uterus from elephants trunks placed on the correct bodily area too!

The question now though is what do I make ?

As I mentioned above I love a jumpsuit and I’ve made a lot of them #jumpsuitqueenjen I personally don’t think you can completely make up your mind until the fabric has arrived and you’ve draped it over your body. Only me?

My original plan was the Friday Pattern Company Avenir Jumpsuit. Since lockdown 3  I’ve had time to look through the patterns I own and the Hughes Dress has always been one on my list too. I’m also loving the dress over trouser trend so I knew this would work. It is a really versatile pattern with three versions peplum top, midi and maxi length.  I was gifted 3 metres enough to go for the maxi version.

I cut out the medium size with a bicep alteration. This gives a little more width over the biceps and it’s really easy to do. I followed  https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/sew-alongs/how-to-alter-a-sleeve-for-a-full-bicep The dress construction was straight forward the instructions include a few finishes so it is totally up to you to decide what’s best for you and your sewing knowledge and the fabric type you are working with. I used a microtex needle as it helps prevent any snags in your fabric whilst sewing.

Button holes- we fall into to camps love them or hate/avoid them. I was in the latter until I discovered ‘stitch and tear’ you use this in the reverse and it helps to stabilise as your sewing machine does it for you. Always use a chisel to open it creates a neat finish. The buttons I used from my stash.

This will be a great addition to my wardrobe and think the colours will work all year round layering up and down.

I really hope you love it as much as I do.

Thank you Steph