Balloon fold dress

Last year, Madeit released the amazing Fold collection. I bought most of the patterns, but due to my pattern backlog, this one is the first of the Madeit collection that I actually sewed. I have several patterns that I have never sewed (which is why I joined the sew-your-pattern-stash group last year) but I still buy new ones. I feel this is a usual phenomenon for sewists, as is having a huge fabric stock, but still I think. I should change my ways. There are several gems in my pattern collection that are screaming to be sewn. This balloon fold dress was one of those gems for sure.

I sewed this versatile garment during my sew weekend, but I did not have time to show it to you yet (seeing as I a bit over-committed myself in testing garments). The woman behind the humorous blog Needle and Ted is also behind this pattern. She blogged this week about a balloon fold dress for her eldest daughter, and I realized I have to make one for my eight year old as well, but let's first talk about this one.

I took the paper pieces to the weekend, but more like a back up project. During the weekend I mostly sewed woven test garments. On Saturday afternoon I craved a satisfactory quick project, balloon fold dress to the rescue. The balloon fold dress is intended as a knit dress, I mixed it up though. The top is knit, but the skirt is double gauze. This very soft fabric has two pretty sides, making it perfect for this project. I bought the fabric at Nuttafabric, around the time the store opened its digital doors.

In the original pattern the back of the dress is in one piece, I changed that to have an entire knit bodice and to have a woven skirt part I did not have my instructions with me, so I winged the construction method. I made a fully lined bodice, which made finishing the armholes very easy, I finished the neckline with a neckband. The original construction method is with bias on the neckline and armholes.

The thing that makes this dress so versatile is the way you wear it. It is either a maxi dress, a bubble dress or a top with a skirt. Only one of the pics actually shows the top-skirt option, but you get the point. With hindsight the top-skirt version might not be ideal for a model with a baby belly, but the other two options look darn cute.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).