Here kitty kitty…. Neenah dress
I was scrolling through my favourite online fabric shop and I just had to get it. I had to get it in 3 colours, although I wanted all of the colours. I got blue to make this Neenah dress, cream for a Zephyr dress (which I will show you soon), and hot pink for underwear. It had been a while since I sewed a crazy print. Lately I’ve been playing it safe with solids and subtle prints, but this dress just asked to be made.
This is my second iteration of this dress. I made one around Christmas time and wore the dress on New Year’s Eve. I’ll blog that sometime soon as well, but it’s more difficult to photograph because it’s glittery.
Anyway, this is the Seamwork Neenah dress. I’ve been a Seamwork subscriber since August of last year. I love the fact that all of the patterns are simple and can be constructed within a day (or a few hours if you’re fast, which I’m not). The Neenah dress is only 5 pieces, 6 if you count the sleeves twice. And if you sew it on your serger, the process is incredibly fast.
I sewed the Medium size. The only change I made to the pattern was to lower the waistline a little bit because of my long torso.
This dress is far from perfect, but it’s definitely wearable and fun to wear. I just wished I had attached the turtleneck with the cats facing the right way. I really thought I checked it well, but I guess I hadn’t. And I overlocked the seam, so there’s no way I’m wasting my time unpicking that seam. (Lazy seamstress here!) I don’t think anyone will notice, will they?
Now that I’ve seen the pictures of the backside, I wish I had taken some more time to look at the fit on my first one. It’s very tight around the butt and a bit saggy at the lower back. I think I can fix that by removing some of the back width from the torso and curving out a little bit more at the back hip. The front seems to fit fine, and I don’t mind a little bit of looseness, but this just looks like something I could’ve gotten at any shop, and while that’s fine, it’s not really the point of sewing clothes that fit.
Have you made any Seamwork patterns? Are you a subscriber? Let me know what you think of them! I’m thinking a Veronica dress will be added to my queue very soon.