The Coffee and Thread Madrid Dress Blog Tour

Hi! I'm delighted to share my Madrid Dress by Olga of Coffee and Thread Patterns. I have been so inspired and wowed by the beautiful dresses and blouses already on tour! All Coffee and Thread Patterns are 25% off with the code "madridtour" until Friday, June 28th 2019. Some of our favorite patterns are our Lana Tops (women's, girls') blogged here and the Nina Blouse blogged here and here. Thanks to Olga for the lovely patterns and to Claudia (@frl.love on instagram) for organizing! (And did you see her Madrid dress that she also sewed in knit?!)

So background story- my serger broke last week! I think the upper and lower loopers are out of alignment? They worked fine until I brushed them out with a sewing machine brush and they sewed a few nice chains before completely locking up. I haven't had time to disassemble it and figure out exactly what's going on but I'm hoping I won't break it worse than it is already broken. A service call in my area costs nearly as much as my machine did new(!) so I'm motivated to figure it out when I have time to.

Knowing that the serger was out of commission, I was lamenting having to go back to zigzagging all of the lovely tiers of the Madrid Dress. Zigzagging definitely worked fine but now that I'm used to a serger it's hard to go back! I dutifully sewed up my muslin in a size 14, according to my measurements. My sewing room is in the basement and as I was coming upstairs to press my fabric I remembered a cut of blue and white striped fabric in The Stash. It's been in The Stash for so long I can't remember where it came from or when I got it. It is soft and feels like a rayon spandex and had been asking to be sewn into a dress for years but I didn't have the right pattern until this blog tour! (Most of you probably sew knits on your sergers exclusively so I realize this is a little strange to decide to go all knit but the advantage of not having to finish edges plus my love for the color and not having an invisible zipper with a matching pull on hand were very persuasive). I also was reminiscing about visiting Madrid and wearing this knit faux wrap dress! (presewing days)



I tossed the fabric in the wash to prewash it and pulled out my Lana Top pattern (also in a size 14). Why did I use the Lana Pattern? Because it's drafted for knits and I already knew it fit me well. The Madrid Dress has eight darts for shaping but I didn't want to use them in my knit.
I traced my pattern piece in green and freehanded the cap sleeve, trying to copy Mie (@sewinglikemad) as best as possible. (see how in her highlights!)



I laid my Madrid muslin (with darts sewn) on top of the Lana bodice and traced it in pink.



Then I combined the two with purple pencil.



Same idea with the back (with the cap sleeves and combining the Lana back bodice and the Madrid muslin with darts).



The other change I made was to add pockets! I had just drafted this pocket piece for a skirt I sewed for myself (and then for Ansley). I held up the pattern piece for Tier 1 from the Madrid Dress to my body and felt the pocket would be best placed like so:



I was unsure how to add pockets with an invisible zipper but Heidi figured it out and shared on her blog! (which I saw after finishing my dress ;))

Let's talk about this fabric. It's soft and lovely and pretty stretchy. I wanted to play with the stripes on the outside but kind of wanted to stablize (and finish all of the edges of the bodice) so I opted to cut a full lining for the bodice with the stripes horizontal like they are intended to be. I didn't bother to line up stripes on the lining because it's the lining and because I was running out of fabric. I knew I'd be happier if I added clear elastic to the shoulder seams and the waistband but I was surprised how much ease there was in the waistband after trying it on. I did sew a little bit of regular 1/4 inch elastic to the back only but you can't really tell. Haha. I think if I sewed this dress in a more stable fabric like cotton lycra that it would fit closer.

Anyway, here's how I fully lined the bodice.

I sewed the front pieces to the back for the lining and the main.



Added clear elastic to the shoulder seams on the main bodice.



Wonder clipped the front (wrap part of the bodice and neckline) and sleeves with main and lining right sides together and sewed. (and I didn't crop out my husband's drink of choice haha).



Turned right side out and pressed well. (no pic). Opened up the front and back bodices and sewed right sides together (like this post!) (no pic).

Baste the faux wrap and raw edges together.



Loving the length as basted. I was surprised how heavy the skirt was, as you can see in the pics. (and how cute would it be with a skirt like this one?!)





Then add the tiers. :)

You'll notice I only added two tiers due to fabric constraints. And I actually used the selvege instead of hemming. I later sewed on a small snap to keep the wrap closed because the fabric has such nice drape.







I am wanting to sew a cotton lycra or french terry version and/or a cotton lycra bodice with a woven skirt (after resuscitating the serger). Or even a skirt like Emi's!

Thanks for stopping by!!