A handful of times I’d visited the Tina Givens website and perused the patterns, then I saw she had free patterns to try and printed out the Bloom Dress. This is sewn up in Cotton and Steel’s Double Gauze from the Fall 2014 line. The colors are what I’m really into right now, especially that red and teal. This fabric had been languishing for months in my stash and had subsequently fallen in and out of love with it a few times. It would do for a wearable muslin.

After it was all sewn up, my love for it was reignited. I did a cursory measurement of the bust and even the small was quite voluminous- over 50″. The pattern states the small is for busts up to 44″. I’m a 40″ bust right now and figured taking out 2″ on the front and back would be a good starting point and would make tweaks from there. Her aesthetic is very free-flowing and loose for lots of layering. There are no bust darts, but there are in seam pockets.

Here is a quick and dirty pic of the two mods done for shaping:

For the hemline, I was hoping the hi-lo shape would help balance out all that volume. It will also look interesting if I get around to making the slip to layer underneath. The hemline from View D of McCall’s 7120 was my guideline. To save time and fabric, bias tape was used on the neckline and hem. This pattern calls for 54″ wide fabric due to the width at the bottom, but taking out those 4″ and moving it just enough over on the bottom so it fit worked out ok. The elongated ‘c’ shape taken out on each side near the underarms helped with fit at the bust. This was totally a shot in the dark, but it worked for the most part. Sewing by the seat of my pants. One thing to note, the front scoop is almost too deep when you have your hands in the pockets, something to remember for next time. Oh, and taking in the underarm helped slightly with side bra exposure.

Cotton and Steel’s choice of substrate in double gauze is even finer than the beloved Nani Iro in my stash. I’m no expert but taking the two different tops out of the dryer, Nani Iro’s sticks to itself like velcro whereas C&S double gauze will fall a little more smoothly. They both, of course, need to be ironed. It’s a very small difference and won’t keep me from Naomi Ito’s amazing fabric.   (No tsking, we keep it real in this household and if it’s not machine washable, it probably won’t be worn, lol)

After Googling the Bloom dress to see other makes, I was surprised to not see more- especially since it’s free! I’m happy with my comfy top, now to just figure out which bottoms to wear with it besides jeans since my red pants are too lipstick red compared to the tomato of this top.