Stripey Marianne Dress |

I think this is my last make from April that I haven’t yet shared here. I’m a little behind, but that’s good because I haven’t made much this month so I wouldn’t have much to write about!

This is my – I’m sure first – Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes. This pattern first came out in late 2015 and I think I bought it not long after it came out……and it’s taken me this long to get around to making it! Which is a shame because I love it!

I made a size 4 with no changes – it’s a loose fit so no need to toile it really. I haven’t made anything really fitted for quite a while and I think that’s made me lazy, so I’ve got some fitted dress plans in the hopefully not too distant future.

I’ve got the pooling issue on my back again, that I had on my Denim Moss Skirt. Really need to sort this out for my next version – I didn’t realise by bum made a shelf for fabric!

I pattern-matched the stripes on the side seams and did a pretty good job, if I say so myself!

The fabric is some lovely striped jersey from the Textile Centre which is unfortunately not available any more. It’s a viscose jersey and I bought it after seeing it on Rosa’s youtube channel. And the really good thing is, because I made the version without sleeves, I have quite a bit of fabric left, so I think I’ll be able to make a t-shirt to match!

I really love the shape of the Marianne Dress. I think it’s more flattering on me than my Coco dress, which I’ve never particularly loved to be honest. I think Marianne will become my go-to jersey dress pattern. I’d like to see how it looks in a more stable jersey too.

I used the stripes in the other direction on the neckband and I really like how it looks.

I also didn’t bother with my twin needle this time, I decided to just use a zig-zag stitch instead and I like how it looks. Also it’s a bit less of a faff!

I took a close up of my stripe matching mostly to crow that I did a pretty good job. The advantage of jersey, of course, is that you can fudge it slightly if there are patches where it’s not quite perfect. Also you can see the scribbley nature of the stripes in the above and below photos. I really like it, it’s a bit more interesting than a solid stripe.

I definitely see more of these in my future, but then I always say that and have made very few patterns more than once! And then I buy more patterns……I’ve got a problem!