2018 Dress a Month Sewalong: #3 Sewing Workshop Memphis Dress

My third dress of the year (for the Dress a Month Sewalong) joins #1 as a bit of a departure for me, stylewise. However, this dress is meant to be a warm wear-around-the-house dress, much like this dress that I made 4 years ago. (I still love that green Lynn Mizono dress and wear it several times throughout the winter.)

Since I'm cold from September to May, a cozy warm dress is high on my wardrobe list in the winter months. This dress is made from berber fleece, which is a fabric with a sweater knit on the wrong side and a velvety texture on the right side. It is often used to make robes or jackets.

The two pieces of berber fleece used in this dress came from deep, deep in my stash. Think of the movie The Deep and you'll have an idea how deep I had to dive to find it. Just kidding. Actually it was right in front of me on one of the winter fabric shelves in my fabric/notions storage room, but deep diving sounds more exciting, doesn't it? Suffice to say that these pieces are old, maybe 15 years or so. 

Instead of being heavy, though, this berber has the weight and hand of velvet, only warmer.

The pattern, the Memphis Dress from The Sewing Workshop, caught my eye last year. I liked the lines and the side drape and thought it would make a good "cozy house dress" with a drapey but warm fabric.

It was a very easy, fast dress to sew. As with all The Sewing Workshop patterns, the instructions and drawings are impeccable. Even though the design is origami-like, it is easy to assemble as long as all the markings from the pattern are dutifully transferred.

I made the size XS  through the shoulders, grading out to a size Small at the underarms and the rest of the way down the dress. 

I didn't make a muslin since, as an intended housedress, it could double as a wearable muslin. Turns out it's a teensy bit large in the neck and shoulders, so next time I'll grade inward from the XS cutting lines. Otherwise, the fit is fine. 

I scooped the neckline out because a jewel neckline is unflattering on me, and because, without a back zipper, pulling a heavy dress over my head through a smallish neck opening is guaranteed to bring on stupid claustrophobic dancing until my head emerges. 

I also did not include the neckline binding called for in the pattern because the fabric was too thick for that treatment and a thinner black knit didn't look right. Instead, I scooped, serged, turned, and hand stitched the neckline in place. The forgiving nature of the berber fleece easily hides my stitches.

All seams are topstitched on either side of the seamline.

A left side onseam pocket (not in the pattern) was added because I could.

About the length--I'm 5' 2" and while I always wear heels when I'm out and about, I usually wear slippers, heavy socks, or go barefoot in the house. So I worried that it might drag on the floor in the drape area. It doesn't--yay! It hits me at about the ankle. Just right.

I've got to do some grandbaby sewing, embroidering, and knitting for Easter, but I've already got my next project draped on my dressform. Stay tuned.