The Hot Chocolate Rivermont Dress

I made another Rivermont! The Cashmerette Rivermont dress is a go to work staple for me. I’m not a fan of ironing so shake and go dresses that are cute are my go to. I grew out of the two Rivermont dresses I had in my closet so I decided to make a few more. I make a lot of decision daily so having a “uniform” is very helpful for me when trying to figure out what to wear. I have a few mix and match pieces that work together in my wardrobe and it makes getting dressed so much easier. Liverpool/double knits, and Pontes are favorites, they are so comfy to wear, and they don’t wrinkle easy. Any chance I get to wear or make something with this type of fabric, I’m on it!

Here’s the link to the blog posts of the last version I made blogged . There is an interesting story as to how this dress came about. I was looking through my fabric and I didn’t have any printed Liverpool or double knit fabric, I knew I wanted a Rivermont, I wanted a solid and a printed version. That’s uncommon for me because I keep a few pieces of printed double knit in my stash. I really didn’t need to buy more fabric, but I went looking on line and didn’t see anything that spoke to me. On a side note, I feel like I’m collecting fabric and patterns SMH. I don’t have the space for that, and it just seems I don’t know, counter productive to collect and not use. Anyway, I didn’t have what I needed in my stash and I really didn’t want to buy more fabric.

I went to Instagram and asked my sewing friends if they would be willing to swap fabric as I thought this was a good compromise. I can re-home some of my fabric and not add more to my stash, win win! I wasn’t expecting the outpour of folks willing to swap and or gift me fabric! I’ve had so many people reach out to gift me fabric, I though, why not showcase some of it on the blog. Thanks to all my sewing friends that sent me fabric, I will try to make great things with it!

This fabric is from the stash of Carol Crocker-Ware, the fabric Whisperer! Carol (Auntie Carol) sent me this delicious piece of Liverpool knit. It was just the right length for a Rivermont, and it wasn’t a solid, so I thought it was perfect for this work dress. Brown is one of Carols favorite colors I believe, so it was awesome to get to sew this up.

There’s always a challenge when sewing anything, I don’t care how much you sew, something will try you. For this dress, it was matching stripes. I didn’t have a lot of fabric to play with so I should have been strategic. I, in fact was not! I cut the pattern as is as opposed to cutting the back on the fold. That would have saved me some heartache. For the front, I took the time to ensure it was lined up before cutting, in Hindsight, I should have made a full front and back piece, and cut single layer like the instructions recommend. But, noooo I didn’t pay attention and just cut. I sewed the dress up and before finalizing seams, I did a fit check, and saw the back stripes did not match up! I unpicked all the stitching, hand based the seams and then resewed the center back seam. It turned ok, but I could have prepped a little better to save me some time and frustration.

My advice for sewing stripes:

• Cut pattern pieces in a single layer.
• Make full pattern piece if you don’t like to flip the pattern piece from one side to the next.
• If there is a zipper, placket or pocket, lay out pattern piece before cutting and orient how things will look when sewed.
• Hand base seams before sewing to line things up.
• Use a walking foot ( I don’t because my machine is really good at moving both pieces of fabric together).
• If you can’t match all stripes, focus less on the side seams if it’s not too noticeable.
• Do your best.

My pattern/sewing adjustments:

• Broad shoulder adjustment.
• Lengthened just above waist (I have a longer torso than the pattern is drafted for).
• Added length to skirt just under hip ( I like my skirts to hit right at my knee and I’m taller than what the pattern is drafted for).
• Tweaked the dart placement (gravity ).
• Left off the zipper, it slips easily over my head without stretching the neckline
• Cheater bicep adjustment (one thing I wish this pattern had was a larger bicep sleeve option)
• Sized up at the side seam to give a just in case seam allowance. I didn’t need it but it’s good practice.
• I’m not really curvy at the hip, so I straightened the skirt’s side seam curve just a bit after trying it on.

Stay tuned for more gifted fabric makes, I made the peplum version of the Rivermont, and it’s cute can’t wait to share! That’s it, what do you think about hot chocolate? Do you have any sewing advice for sewing stripes?