I’ve been wanting to sew a denim Aeolian Dress for awhile, but the thought of drafting a neckline facing that could be top-stitched in place, kept pushing it down the queue.

And then the universe intervened via a book pattern testing gig that required me to change – adding or removing – some key design features of an existing well fitting pattern.  Yes, I’m being a little vague… I’ll tell you more about the process another day, but let’s just focus on the fact that I drafted my own facing, it worked and my satisfaction levels are ridiculously high.

Did I mention it was two piece (front & back) neckline facing on a raglan pattern?  Okay enough of the bragging….

This was one of those projects that just evolved.  I’ve had a ‘thing’ for denim for a while and I’ve been happily pining inspiration pictures for several months.  Lots of the pinned photos included different denims, often recycled, in the finished garment.  Although I didn’t have any old jeans to hand, I did have lots of large denim scraps from my current denim tote making adventure (more on that another day too) so I created my own demin-blocked (yes, I’m totally making up words here) dress.

Choosing which denim and where to place it was not an easy task.  In the end, I decided on keeping the front and the back the same, and adding different coloured sleeves.  The darker sleeve (pictured above on left) is hardly noticeable in some lights, but the teal (pictured on right) is a little more obvious.  To try and balance things – and let’s face it, balance features highly on all priority lists in my life – I added a teal pocket.

The pocket looked wrong on the front and the back, so I settled on a side pocket.  The pocket piece was borrowed from the Midi-Length Jumper Dress (Pattern G) from Stylish Dress Book : Simple Smocks, Dresses & Tops (often referred to as Stylish Dress Book 2) by Yoshiko Tsukiori as seen here.

I had planned on using top-stitching thread and giving my vintage Bernina 730 Record a workout, but the old girl didn’t want to play (she’ll be off to the fix-it shop this week), so I relied on regular thread and the triple stitch function on my machine.  I desperately wanted to top-stitch in red, but I thought this dress had enough going on already without adding another element to the mix.

Designed for knit fabrics and successfully sewn in denim… you’ve got to admit, this is one versatile pattern.

Pattern:  Pattern Fantastique’s Aeolian Tee Shirt Dress
Size:  Small
Fabric:  Denim from The Cloth Shop, Rathdowne Fabrics & Clear It (Brunswick Street)
Alterations:  Left off the back facing & drafted a neck facing.  Shortened the dress by two inches.
Accessories:  Scarf knitted by me and boots from Florsheim
Location:  My garage door