Of many good things that happened for me via sewing last year, this was one of the highlights. I can finally reveal that I was invited to do a Readers Review for Love Sewing magazine. Needless to say, I was very excited.

Butterick B6723 is a dress pattern with two views: one is a straight skirt with a shirttail hem and elbow-length, gathered sleeves; the other has a full A-line skirt and ¾ sleeves with ties. Both views of the dress have a button-fronted bodice and an elasticated waist which gives the whole dress a neat silhouette and helps it to drape nicely on the body. It is finished with a long sash which is tied in a bow at the waist. I chose View A with the straight skirt.

Not only this but I had been promised a bit of fabric to showcase by Alice at ClothSpot who have gorgeous fabrics in amazing colours and prints. I decided this was the perfect time to try some of their lush fabric.

I chose their beautiful Jusselle Tencel Twill which is a stunning golden coloured cloth with a wonderful sheen. It has a medium weight hand and as soon as it arrived I thought it was the perfect weight for an autumn dress. Not too light and plenty of drape.

The pattern is quite an easy sew with nothing too challenging. There is a loose blousey bodice with a button front and a scooped bound neckline. The skirt has a shirt-tail finish and they are joined with an elasticated waist for which you sew a channel. As I say the techniques were not too challenging but I was determined to take extra care as this was not just for me. I even did some hand stitching on the neckline – I slip stitched the binding in place rather than stitching in the ditch. I’ve been watching loads of the @theclosethistorian on Youtube recently and I think she has hypnotised me into liking hand stitching. It was actually very satisfying to sit and stitch slowly and carefully rather than racing along on the machine. I might do this more often.

I thought the pattern is suitable for all levels of sewing expertise. The only thing I would like to see included would be some suggestions for finishing the seams. I followed the instructions almost to a T because I was reviewing but I didn’t like leaving my edges raw. This fabric thankfully didn’t fray much but I ended up pinking the edges to prevent unravelling and to make them look better IMO. If I made this dress again, I would either use the overlocker or if I were using finer material I’d consider French seams.

I decided I didn’t want the elastic finish at my elbows and I left the sleeves full to give it a little drama. In addition, although I am quite short-waisted, I’d like the waist a little lower, so if I were to make the dress again. I think I would add a couple of centimetres here. In fact, it occurred to me that I might even add a waistband and wider elastic to define the waist a bit more. Elastic waists seem to be having a moment and this dress is comfortable but might feel better with a waistband. It needs some in-seam pockets as well methinks.

I took this dress with me on a short trip we had in the Autumn where we stayed in a beautiful Pod near Glastonbury. It made a great backdrop for my photos for the magazine. That was nerve-wracking as I wanted them to be perfect. As it was I seemed to have been in a gurning mood as most of my pictures are a bit squinty with my eyes screwed shut in most of them. Never mind, the dress looked gorgeous.

It was such a buzz to see myself in the magazine. Such a fun thing to do.

Thanks for dropping by,