Summer DIY Dress from Unique Designer Fabric!
Recently, one of our wonderful team members Ella, took on the project of creating the most stunning party dress out of our newest natural fabric, Poppy!
Ella is our Studio & Production assistant here at Digital Fabrics and also works very closely with The Designer Project. Constantly seeing all of the amazing designs from our Aussie Designers, she decided to feature one of the prints for her dress. Ella has put together a blog post for you all, showcasing the behind the scenes of her latest project as well as her thought process and why she was inspired by The Designer Project.
Keep on reading to find out more!
When I first found out we would be stocking our new Poppy fabric, I knew I just had to make something from it. Organic Cotton Sateen…? Yes please!
I love to work on my own textile designs for my projects but this time, I decided to have a little scroll through our Fabric Shop online. Through working closely with The Designer Project designers, seeing all of their amazing collections in our Fabric Shop and knowing all the love that goes into them, I knew I wanted to order some prints to support our local artists for my next project.
Once I saw the design ‘Maggie May’ by Madeline Hawkins, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
‘Maggie May by Madeline Hawkins’
‘Maggie May digitally printed on Poppy organic cotton sateen fabric’
I then went on a hunt for the perfect dress pattern to match the vibes of the design. I came across DIY Daisy on Instagram and scrolled through her website and discovered her ‘Gathered Rectangle Dress’ tutorial.
I don’t tend to use patterns as I love to make up custom pieces that are perfected to my body shape, or just using clothes that I currently own and loved the shape and fit of to base my new garment on. For this project though, I wanted to find a pattern to work with so that none of this gorgeous custom fabric went to waste.
I love the shape and fit of Daisy’s dress, and how easy it was to put together! I ended up making a mini dress version to create a more ‘party dress’ vibe though. I ended up ordering 2 metres of Madeline’s print, but only need about 1 metre of fabric to create the dress (I’m a size 8/10 or S/M for reference)
Since I had another metre spare and a few off-cuts, I also used Daisy’s ‘Trapezoid Skirt’ tutorial to create another wonderful piece with the ‘Maggie May’ print and also a little bandana for my cat Luna (which she sadly did not want to wear for photos) !
‘Ella and her cat Luna’
Poppy was such a great fabric to work it, it was smooth and easy to sew and to gather as well! The print also turned out so beautifully on the fabric and the sateen sheen paired perfectly with the style of the design. It also happens to wash super well, even after a few washes it still looks lovely and bright!
‘Poppy fabric being sewn’
‘Poppy fabric washed and unwashed’
The dress feels so special to me, knowing I’ve helped support one of our Australian Designers.
Working at Digital Fabrics, I see so many wonderful prints come through our studio doors and am always wondering what amazing projects people are working on and what the fabric will be turned into. It’s always a pleasure working on my own projects using custom fabrics from my place of work. I feel very lucky being able to see the behind the scenes of it all as well as being able to create the finished piece.
– Ella x