It’s no secret that I am on a fabric-buying ban and am trying to work my way through my fabric stash. The funny thing about a fabric stash is that depending on who is looking at it, you can tell if they sew or not. Those friends of mine who do not sew look at my fabric stash and say “That’s a lot of fabric!” yet friends who do sew look at my stash and say “Wait, is that all the fabric you have? That’s not much at all!”. I think I have enough fabric to last me the next few years, and I am trying to work my way through it. The other day I was browsing my stash and I noticed a piece of fabric I had purchased over 6 years ago and I thought it was time this fabric turned into a garment.

I am going to be transparent at the moment and say that I am really struggling with a few things happening in my personal life. Because of this, I am extremely burnt out and struggling to get on top of a few things. At the beginning of the year, I made a goal to sew at least one garment a month and looking back at the disaster that was 2023 for me, I wanted to at least stick to one of my yearly goals. I don’t want anything overly difficult to sew and I also don’t have a lot of time this month to create anything complicated. Although I’ve already made it twice, I am still loving the Very Easy Vogue V9100 sewing pattern and wouldn’t mind another attempt and this time adjust the shoulders a little bit to hopefully get a better fit. So to create a quick and easy garment, I will be using some very old fabric from my stash and my new favourite go-to sewing pattern.

Even as a child, I was an overachiever. Back in the second grade, I decided to read my first novel which just so happened to be The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and although it took me over 2 months to finish (with some help from the greatest teacher ever), I got through it and loved it. I’ve had a very soft spot for all things Alice in Wonderland ever since and still love looking at Alice-inspired designs. This also comes in the way of fabric. When I first started sewing and buying fabric, I found some Alice in Wonderland-themed fabric and was very excited by it. As I continued to sew and shop for fabric, somehow, some of my Alice fabric just fell by the wayside and was lost and forgotten in my stash. However, after waiting for over 6 or 7 years in my stash, today is the day I use my Alice in Wonderland-inspired cotton fabric from the Cotton+Steel brand Rifle Paper Co, entitled Wonderland. This fabric features illustrations of various Alice characters on a soft blue coloured background as well as metallic detailing. The fabric is very striking and has so many cute details it’s a shame to have this fabric sit in my stash any longer. If you are interested in this fabric, it is still available online at various sources but quantities may be limited.

Armed with about 3 meters of Wonderland fabric and a well-loved Very Easy Vogue 9100, it was time to sew my new garment. I will note here incase someone doesn’t remember, for this pattern, I will be sewing the size 12 with the c-cup bust as this has fitted me best overall. I will also be adding pockets as snack holes are the greatest thing. As I’ve already given a detailed review of this pattern here and here, I won’t go into too much detail of the creation process. I used the Wonderland fabric as lining for my dress as I knew I would have enough plus adding pockets as well. Putting the bodice together was pretty easy and the only fiddly part was pulling everything inside out as I don’t follow the sewing pattern instructions and do it my own way (see previous posts for a bad explanation of what I do in these situations). For the skirt of the dress, I created a rectangular gathered skirt using three fabric panels which measured the width of the fabric itself and cut to 27 inches long. These panels were then sewn together to create one very long rectangle before using the dental floss method to gather it together. Once done I attached the pockets and the dress together before installing a zip and hemming. The dress all up took me half an afternoon to do and I think it came out really cute.

I am still learning how to adjust and alter patterns and garments to properly fit my body shape so for this particular attempt, I wanted to pay close attention to the shoulder straps. In previous attempts, this pattern can be a little bit too long in the shoulders so for this rendition, I tried to bring in the straps by an inch and a half. I wanted to keep the curve of the straps so I took length out from the back of the straps. Looking back and seeing how it all came together, I wasn’t overly successful in this attempt and the straps were a little tight and mainly fell down as they sat right on the edge of my shoulder. Next year I’m hoping to be braver in my adjustment attempts but I also know it’s a learning curve and testing out ideas on patterns I’m familiar with on a fun simple dress is a good way to practice.

Despite the straps not being perfect, I still really love how this dress turned out. I’m really glad that I got to use this month as a chance to give life to a piece of fabric that must have been feeling very lost and forgotten. I’m hoping that next year in 2024, I can every now and again find some fabric that’s been in my stash for several years and just whip it up into something quick and simple. Personally, I love having what I call a ‘chuck on dress’; just a simple dress that I can chuck on and pop to the shops, to a friend’s house or just run an errand. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy but I find that by using a fun print and a comfortable pattern, there are now several of these dresses in my wardrobe that I reach for several times a month. These dresses are also designed to be dressed up with accessories just in case I want to go to a casual event such as a barbecue or picnic. My new Alice dress will be joining the ranks of my ‘chuck on dresses’ and I’m so happy to have it in my collection.

Outfit Notes:
Earrings from Daisy Jean (full review here)
Belt is thrifted
Shoes from Honiara Vintage (full review here).
Wallpaper from Spoonflower

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.