Light madeira dress from blogger Nikol.

Blogger Nikola from the blog Talk to my mustache has prepared a simple tutorial for a dress made of Madeira for you, but you can also choose another material, such as a crepe blouse or anything else that you like. We wish you a nice reading.

Clothing made from different types of Madeira can be seen in many shops. Madeira is one of the hits for this spring and summer. Upper and lower parts of clothing are sewn from it. Often this visually delicate type of fabric is used to sew blouses, tank tops and skirts. Madeira , however, nicely decorates dresses or overalls. The material is really light, airy and above all comfortable, so it is suitable for all these summer clothes. Madeira appealed to me and enchanted me a few months ago, but I didn't want to get carried away by the enthusiasm and buy the first Madeira I come across and then, God forbid, be disappointed with my purchase. And so I spent several months thinking about what piece of it I wanted to sew and what patterns I wanted. Finally, I came across the ideal madeira for my sewing and created airy dresses from it in a minimalistic spirit.

I look for inspiration for sewing both in Burda magazines, which offer not only cuts, but also on Pinterest and in popular stores. I used to visit clothing stores to shop. I've been going there for inspiration for the past year. I look at what is currently being sold, what pieces are being worn, what materials are used and how the pieces are made. I often stop by a clothing rack and admire a certain piece. I look at it from all sides and I am determined to buy it. Most of the time, though, I return the item because I figure I can sew it. And believe it or not, you appreciate and enjoy your handmade clothes more. And that's what slowfashion is about, right? :-) About thinking about the purchase, about the quality of clothes and, above all, about the belief that we will wear the given garment more than twice in our lifetime. So I got enough inspiration, looked at a lot of Madeira dresses, thought about the cut for a long time, then sat at the sewing machine for a long time to create exactly the piece I imagined. Here, after several hours of measuring, adjusting the cut and sewing, a minimalist dress was created that I feel good in and I am sure will make me happy for a long time.

What fabric will we sew from?

Two materials are needed to sew this dress. Madeira is the dominant material for my sewing. I've been wanting a madeira with flower patterns , so when I came across this particular one, I didn't hesitate to grab it and head to the checkout. However, this material is in most cases very translucent, so it is necessary to find a suitable lining for it. My intention was to create an airy dress that would flow freely on the body. I had to take that into account when choosing the lining. Choosing the wrong lining could ruin the look of the dress, creating an unsightly and shapeless garment. In the end, I took the advice of the saleswoman at the Terry moda fabric store, who recommended a lightweight cotton canvas in white .

What cut to choose

Choosing a haircut is the most difficult thing for me. I tend to be indecisive when choosing a cut, so in the end I choose the simplest and most minimalistic cuts, which I am sure I can sew and feel comfortable in at the same time. For the Madeira dress, I originally intended a completely different cut than the one I chose. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the simple cut I dreamed of in Burda, so I improvised and made my own cut with a smaller Burda. In the April issue ( 4/2019 ) of Burdy Style, I came across a simple blouse cut, which I shortened according to my figure so that it ended below the breasts. For the lower part of the dress, I used only two strips (with a lining of four) of fabric. I also chose their width and length taking into account my figure.

I used the front and back part and sleeves from the cut of the mentioned blouse. I created the front and back parts of the dress from both madeira and cotton canvas so that the dress does not show through. I kept the sleeves only made of madeira for extra specialness. So the cut consists of 1 Madeira top dress front, 1 Cotton canvas top front, 1 Madeira top back, 1 Cotton canvas top back, 2 Madeira sleeves, 2 madeira stripes for the lower part of the dress and 2 cotton identical stripes for the lower part of the dress.

Sewing procedure

Once we have the cut ready, we can start sewing. We attach the madeira parts to the cotton parts with pins so that the upper fabric with the lining stays in place during sewing. I recommend keeping all the pieces together like this throughout the sewing process. You will avoid unnecessary complications, because you will still handle the fabrics precisely and everything will fit as it should.

First, we sew the upper parts together in the shoulder area. Next comes the sewing of the sleeves. Then the pins come to the rescue again. After opening the upper part of the garment (see picture in the collage above left), you can easily attach the sleeves to the back and front of the upper part of the dress. Once you are satisfied that everything fits perfectly, get behind the sewing machine and sew the sleeves. The upper part is now a little closer to completion. At this moment, all that remains is to smooth the neckline, which we will do by simply folding the fabric over twice so that the edge of the fabric is hidden inside and does not fray when worn (see the picture in the collage at the bottom left). Then we leave the upper part of the dress for a while and focus on the lower part.

Following the pattern of the upper part, we pin the madeira and the cotton canvas of the skirt together. Then, in the place that will merge under the breasts, we will create a gathering, which we will achieve by setting the tension of the thread to the highest possible number. This will allow us to manipulate the fabric on the thread, so we can gather it as we like and then simply sew it to the upper part (the gathering is visible in the first picture below this text). We will do this for both the front and back parts and this will complete both parts in their entire length (see the picture below under the gathered fabric).

All that remains is to sew the entire garment together , gather the sleeves and smooth the hem of the skirt. And in exactly this order. First, we sew the front and back of the dress together. It doesn't matter in which direction we proceed (whether from the sleeves towards the skirt or vice versa). Once we have the notebook, we will pay attention to the sleeves, on which we want to create a gentle gathering in the area of the bend of the arms. First of all, we bend the ends of the sleeves to the desired length of the pleated part and take into account that part of the bent fabric must be left over to create a tunnel for the elastic that will create the pleat. Thus, we sew the bent fabric in the part closer to the elbow so that the remaining part of the fabric (long according to the width of the elastic band and located closer to the shoulder) can be bent over twice and thus create a tunnel for placing the elastic band (see the picture below). When sewing the part of the tunnel closer to the shoulder, we leave an unsewn place so that we can stretch the elastic in this place. We attach this to the safety pin and simply pull it through the tunnel. Then we sew the elastic band together and sew the free space that was used for the elastic band to enter. Thanks to this method of ending the sleeve, the sleeve is slightly gathered and smoothed at the same time, and there is no need to perform smoothing as in the area of the neckline. The last step is to smooth the lower part of the skirt, which we will do according to the pattern of the mentioned neckline. And here, the dress is in the world!