Made for Mermaids Sylvia Dress with Elizabeth of Pins and Pinot

November 24, 2020

I am thrilled to share this dress today - it came together just as perfectly as I’d imagined it in my head. This is the perfect combination of everything I needed for Thanksgiving 2020 - comfortable enough to match the more lowkey tone of our celebrations this year, while cute enough to remind me that it is, indeed, a little different than every other day of the year, despite the fact that it might feel much the same. 

As a member of the Raspberry Creek Fabrics Promo Team this year, I had the pleasure of picking out a couple of yards of any of their beautiful fabrics to work with this month. This double brushed poly caught my eye right away - I loved the way the colors work so beautifully together, and I’m always in for a good floral. This color palette really spoke to me, especially for cool weather season. Despite the print, I was hesitant to go for it - I have shied away from DBP in the last year or so after using a cut that had almost a microfiber-like effect, where the fabric caught on my skin in a really uncomfortable way. The fabric was somehow simultaneously soft and obnoxious, and it really turned me off to DBP. Earlier this year, though, I sewed Halloween sweatshirts for my family, and decided to use some of the DBP from Raspberry Creek as a coordinate on an area that would not touch my skin. I was so impressed with the quality of the fabric! It had none of the annoying “catching” qualities I’d experience in the past with DBP! Once I realized how soft and wonderful the fabric from Raspberry Creek was, there was no stopping me.

I used the Made for Mermaids Sylvia pattern for this dress, and the pattern and fabric are a great pairing together. I was able to do much of the construction with my serger. The fabric is drapey enough to sit beautifully as a finished garment, but not so slippery that it was difficult to sew. I was worried that the neckline was going to turn out wonky, as any area that requires a little stretch and a particular shape can do when sewing with fabrics with stretch. As you can see, it turned out quite lovely!

As I sewed this dress, it started looking weirdly familiar to me. I ended up talking to my Papa (my mom’s dad) about it after he saw an in progress photo that I posted in my Instagram stories, and we realized that he thought the same. This dress must have been born from some memory tucked into the back of my brain. I haven’t tracked down the photo just yet, but he confirmed that I’ve seen a photo of my Mimi (his wife) in a very similar dress back in the 60s! I have always loved seeing photos of how fashionable she was, and it made me so pleased to think I’d recreated something of hers without even trying to.

I’m so excited to wear this dress for Thanksgiving and beyond - it is as comfortable as pajamas, but obviously much more presentable! (Plus, I was able to squeeze a pair of pants out of my leftovers, so now the little one and I can match!) 

Top: handmade by me

Pattern: Made for Mermaids - Women’s Sylvia Dress

Fabric: Raspberry Creek Fabrics - Rusty Dusty Pink Sage and Mustard Vine Floral Print Double Brushed Poly Knit Fabric, by Kimberly Henrie for Club Fabrics

• XX Elizabeth (www.pinsandpinot.com) 

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