Dottie Angel Frockalong - the interview!

Welcome to today's, yesterday's...sorry I'm late! Dottie Angel Frockalong post. Today I am sharing an interview with Catherine (@knittingcatherine) and a few links to some other great Dottie Angel frocks.

Shall we begin?

Hi Catherine!

Can you tell us how long you've been sewing for and what drew you to this hobby?

I have been sewing since age 9 so I guess 50 years, phew how time flies! I was drawn to sewing not as a hobby but as a necessity. I am the daughter of a single parent in the 50’s, so to say there was not a lot of money is an understatement. Working with donated clothing I remade them. My mother sacrificed to get me a sewing machine at age 11 that is where the magic happened. We moved to an apartment building and one of the neighbours worked at a drapery factory. She would bring home bags of fabric, and she passed one bag to me the rest is as they say history. I have been sewing ever since.

I noticed on your Instagram feed that you had made a couple of the Dottie Angel frocks, how many have you made?

I have made 5 for myself and 1 for a good IG friend @pamalajane. This is a great pattern; I foresee many more in my future.

What caused you to do the the modification on the sleeve hem?

I am a perpetual pattern tweaker , and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add more contrast fabric. I like a little sleeve versus sleeveless so adding the cuff was my solution. I also made some other modifications as well, lowering the darts to the waistline, placing darts on the back in lieu of ties and finally making my pockets double as well as reinforcing to back, I tend to stuff a lot in my pockets haha.

Can you walk us through how to do it so we can do it too?

I trace all my pattern pieces first onto Swedish pattern paper with a hot pink pen so that I can clearly see all the markings.

This is where I make all modifications: lowering the darts and adding them to the dress back, lowering the pockets, and finally lowering the contrast panel.

Sew darts on both front and back.

Sew the 4 cut pockets wrong side together to create two pockets, turn right side out and press. Sew the contrast strip to the tops of both pockets.

Attach pockets to the front dress panel. Sew on contrast panel to the front and back dress panels. Stitch together with French seams first stitching fronts and back wrong sides. Mark 3 inches up from the dart on both sides this will become your sleeve.

Stitch together with French seams, first stitching fronts and backs wrong sides together then clip at the place that will become the sleeves. Turn to the wrong side and sew seams.

For the cuff cut 2 pieces from contrast fabric 3” x 13” (You may need to check the length of your cuff as it might change depending on the size you make.) Seaming short sides together to create a circle that will become the cuff.

Pin cuff to inside of dress armhole matching raw edges and sew seam allowance. (The pic has the cuff pinned to outside of dress not inside but it's still a good guide for where the cuff goes).

Finish raw edges with over locker or zigzag stitch. Flip cuff to outside of dress and press. You could also top stitch close to the edge to hold the cuff links n place. See the finished cuff below. There is a good tutorial here about how to sew a cuff which is a different dress but done the same way as Catherine's, it might help if this is confusing.

On this version I added a bit of antique lace which is sewn between the layers.

Thank you Catherine! I love the way you have done the pockets and the sleeve cuff!

Now for some more inspiration!

If you do a hashtag search on Instagram for #dottieangelfrock or #dottieangeldress and similar searches on Pinterest you can find loads of inspiration!

Here is a frock that I found on Instagram. @dillidallidayz has turned her frock into a fantastic looking summer dress!

I searched in Pinterest and saved some great frocks to my Sew...Clothes board. Feel free to go check them out!

All these dresses are awesome! I love the kimono sleeve version! And the green one has some fantastic details with the hem and under bust gathering.

You could also go directly to the source of the Dottie Angel frock for inspiration! The Dottie Angel Facebook page has loads of inspiring pics in photos.

What is coming up next? On Friday Cassie is going to do a post covering finishing the dress, particularly the hem and the things that can be done to make it your own.

Make it sew, Jess

 

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