Hey hello, it’s Selfish Sewing Week time again! Selfish Sewing Week is co-hosted by the lovely Rachael from Imagine Gnats, with Indiesew and Kollabora, and is all about celebrating and sewing for yourself!

This week I made a True Bias Sutton Blouse but turned it into a dress.

I bought the pattern shortly after it was released because it seemed like it would be a great staple for my everyday wardrobe. I made a muslin (below) which I love and wear all the time. The Sutton features a v-neck, kimono sleeves, inverted back pleat, and slit sides with the front hem higher than the back. I omitted the slit sides on both the dress and the blouse although I do like this feature and will probably add it to future Suttons.

The fabric recommendations for the Sutton Blouse are lightweight woven fabrics with a good drape, such as silk, rayon, lightweight linen. I had a rayon / cotton blend lawn in the shop that seemed the perfect weight so I made the muslin with that (this print is no longer in stock but I have a similar fabric here). This is a pretty straightforward sew, but may be slightly trickier if you use a slippery fabric. It helps to go slow and don’t sew while you’re sleepy. Obvious advice I have ignored more than once.

For the dress version I purposely chose a fabric that differed from the recommended fabrics and used one of my favourite nani IRO by Naomi Ito prints : Water Window in wata gauze. Wata gauze is a loose weave double gauze that is fluffy and a bit thicker than usual double gauze. I was expecting this would make a more casual Sutton than if it were made in a fabric with more drape and it did. It’s a bit sack-like but I can tell you it is the most comfortable dress. Wata gauze is so light and easy to wear and this print, I can’t tell you how much I love this print. It just makes me so happy to look at.

The wata gauze dress and lawn blouse differ slightly in finished size. The dress is a looser fit, the v-neck is deeper and wider, and the sleeve openings are larger. I made no modifications to the sizing and used the same pattern pieces for both but the wata gauze does have more give and stretches more than the lawn so I’m certain the differences come down to this. I think the dress could do with taking in a little and I may eventually shorten it to blouse length but for now I’m going to enjoy it as it is.

And if the awkwardness of the photoshoot wasn’t already apparent, here’s some twirling, pretending to be an airplane, scarecrow, dance like nobody’s watching except that they are, and I don’t know what else.

Ok, so the Sutton Blouse. I like it a lot and I will make it again! Thank you to Rachael for inviting me to take part in SSW again! Are you also sewing for yourself this week? What are you making?