Since I’ve had the extreme good fortune to be able to work from home since March of last year, my wardrobe needs have drastically changed. I went from dressing business casual 80% of the time to dressing zoom casual at every moment. For me, this means jeans, wool socks, and some sort of video call worthy top all day every day. It also means I haven’t made or purchased any clothes for myself in quite a long time. For mother’s day this year, I did both.

I took myself to the mall for a pair of jeans and some basic tops and after that I kind of, sort of found myself at Joann’s. I found a wee bit of fabric that wanted to come home with me, so I got set to figuring out what to make.

On top is a really soft french terry that will become a Blackwood Cardigan by Helen’s Closet – long and snuggly. The other two are some rayon/cotton blend chambray-esque fabric that seemed like a reasonable way to dip my toes back into garment making. I did a bit of searching and came upon the Hinterland Dress, a pattern by Sew Liberated. It seems like nearly everyone one in the sewing community has made one or five of these. One thing that really drew me to the pattern is how versatile the styling seems. Some folks made an oversized, boxy version while others made a more close fitting bodice for a different look. I’m aiming for the more fitted side, so I made up a muslin.

For reference, my current measurements are 39.5″ – 34.5″ – 47″ – here I’ve cut a straight size 14 bodice. I wound up lowering the bust darts by an inch and going with that. After some debate, I decided to start with the lavender fabric. I like the blue better, so I’m saving it for the second try. Now, this pattern has you use a bias binding facing for the neckline. I, in fit of genious, decided to purchase bias tape to make my life a little easier. Can you see where this going?

Yeah… so… a couple of things. One – the bias tape you purchase at a big box store is definitely a fairly sturdy quilting-weight cotton so it’s not as stretchy as this cotton/rayon blend. By a lot. Two – double fold and single fold binding are not the same and they won’t work the same way.

This has me in a bit of a bind – ha! – since alongside this fit of genious I had a lot of extra fabric leftover. I decided to be very fast, economical, efficient, smart, brilliant and cut out an Ogden Cami (by True Bias) while I was cutting out the dress. While this does certainly mean I don’t have a large enough piece of fabric left to cut the new bias binding from – at least I got a cami out of it.

Based on my measurements, I cut a straight size 14 and didn’t fiddle with any adjustments. Overall, the fit is pretty good though based on the back view below, I think I could take out a bit from the straps in my next version.

That’s a rough picture, but you get the idea. I think just a smidge higher would be great. I didn’t take a picture but it fits fairly low under the arm as well, so yeah, shortening the straps for the next one for sure. And yes, there will defitiely be a next one.

I did french seams, which seemed like a nice idea, but in practice added a fair amount of bulk at that underarm seam and the hems. Last but not least, I added a little tag in the lining.

All in all, I’m pleased with this make. It was a very nice diversion after the bias tape incident, but now I’ve got to figure that out. I’m debating cutting it out of the blue fabric since they are very similar weights and blends. Or doing one of those hacks where you make a long strip of binding from a small square of fabric somehow. For now, I’m just going to bask in the glow of my first garment make (pj pants don’t really count in my book) in years.

---

Happy making!