Swiss Dot Perfection with Mary Beth Crossett

September 22, 2022

Raspberry Creek Fabrics has been a favorite of mine for years with their cotton spandex jersery, french terry and swim knit from their club design collections and cotton spandex solids to coordinate perfectly.  But have you ever noticed all of the wonderful apparel wovens in the RCF shop?  I had been eyeing the swiss dot fabrics and wanted to try them, so when Diana posted last month about new floral print swiss dot fabrics, I knew I just had to try it out!  I chose the light sage colorway with a lovely floral design that has peachy pink, creams, mustard, and rust flowers and leaves in teal, navy and brown.  This combination of colors can truly be perfect for fall sewing projects and will be just as fantastic in the spring as well!  

When I began sewing so many years ago, I used wovens and still find it very relaxing to sew them up.  I usually use more stable wovens like quilting cotton, flannel or chambray.  I wasn’t sure if the swiss dot would ‘cooperate’ nicely like those fabrics or if it would require more patience like some other drapey wovens I’ve used in the past that like to shift around while sewing and seem to have a mind of their own at times!  I love the soft hand of the swiss dot and the beautiful drape it has, while not being a sheer fabric.  I prewashed the fabric and was amazed to find that it didn’t wrinkle up at all in the wash!   I was able to cut it out easily using a rotary cutter on my self-healing mat.

Now onto the sewing project – I knew I wanted to make a dress for my daughter and planned something with a puffy half-length sleeve and a two-tiered skirt for some extra twirl.  I had picked out the beautiful Sage dress pattern from Peony Patterns to match my vision and I was all set.  That is of course, until I checked with my daughter who asked if I could do an elastic panel on the back instead of buttons/snaps as it’s designed.  Her sewing wish is my command, so I began thinking of how best to accomplish this.  I decided to make a franken-pattern and use pieces from three different Peony Patterns designs – Juniper, Sage and Jasmine (line drawings from Peony Patterns website) – to complete the dress.

I started with the Juniper dress bodice because it was designed with an elastic panel on the back.  I eliminated the shoulder ties of this design and used the existing armscye to attach a sleeve.  I remembered the beautiful puff sleeves on the Jasmine dress and used the top of the Jasmine sleeve and combined it with the Sage sleeve from the armpit spot down to lengthen the sleeve for my final look to be exactly how I wanted it.  The skirt was made using the Sage dress two-tier version, though I could have easily used the same options from either the Juniper or Jasmine designs, which also have two-tier skirts as well.   In the end, I’m so happy with how well combining these patterns together went.  The final look is just what I hoped for, and my girl is so happy for a ‘stretchy back’ dress with all the twirl she could ask for! 

I am so glad that I decided to try out this swiss dot fabric!  I was pleased to find that it is gorgeous, soft and the perfect balance of beautiful draping while being stable enough to sew very easily like the wovens I’m used to using.  It was exactly what I was hoping for and cannot wait to make more projects with it!

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