Apple Dress - Simplicity 2176

I’m finally getting around to posting about yet another sewing project I wrapped up during spring break, my apple dress.

It seems fitting I that I make an apple dress, my sister’s would say I am a little fruity.

Here I am in my lemon dress from last year.

Who would have guessed though that fruity apparel is all the rage now, just check out Modcloth latest collection.

When I first came across this apple fabric (below), I knew I would be making a fun sun dress with it.

Apple fabric I picked up at an antique store.

Because of the limited fabric, I decided to use my Simplicity 2176 pattern. Which just so happens to be the same patern I used to make the my lemon dress.

I decided that I would line the dress for two reasons. One because the cotton fabric was a bit thin and two I could basically do a test fit with the lining before I got started on the actual dress fabric.

One of the reasons I wanted a test fit was that my lemon dress was a bit loose around the top (under arms) of the bodice. I wanted to avoid this and create a better fit for my apple dress.

I used a black satin material for the lining

After a test fit I determined that a dart on both side pieces would do the trick. The dart was about an 1-1/2″ wide at the top and 2″ tall.

I used a satin material for my lining, not only because it’s soft, but also because I have several yards of it. Because I was using a satin fabric, I decided to use french seams to avoid any fraying on the lining fabric.

I liked the way the French seams looked so well I opted to use them throughout the entire dress. It was more time-consuming, but I love the way it looks.

When I cut the dress I knew I was a bit short on the skirt, so I decided to go for that color block look. I had some left over red fabric, not much, but I thought it be enough for the bottom of the skirt and if I was lucky the top of the bodice.

Because of the way the shape of the scraps, I had to cut the band to four pieces instead of two. This meant there would be a seam in the front center where the actual skirt had none.

Here you can kind of see the front seem on skirt band — Here you can kind of see the front seam on skirt band

I’m not sure if I liked the seam, but I really did like the red accent fabric, so I decided to go with it.

As for the bodice band, I went with a different variation from the I used on the lemon dress. I didn’t have quite enough red fabric for the band, but with some creative thinking I worked things out. I had enough fabric for the band, just not enough for the fold over. So I cut the red at the fold, and cut the same from some left over black fabric.

I sewed the these pieces together and then sewed the band to the bodice. It worked out great and you hardly notice the black on the underside.

I had just enough apple fabric to make the shoulder straps, which I was quite happy about.

Finally I was left with the hem, issue. If I was to hem the skirt it take more from the length, which is why I added the red to begin with. Also the top bodice I felt needed some finishing, because I really didn’t have enough of the bodice band to fold over.

Color block of red and added green trim on the top and bottom of the dress

My solution was to use double fold bias tape to finish off the hem and the top bodice. I could have chosen a red bias tape, but felt it wouldn’t really match up with my red fabric. So instead I pulled from some of the other colors on the apple fabric. I settled on using an apple green color.

Some of you might think I have too many colors going, with the green, red and apple print, but I just love it.

I originally wanted to wear this dress for Apple Day at the University, but didn’t get it done in time. Besides it was still kind of chilly that day. I did however get to wear it on a sunny day over spring break.

I paired the dress with my fun apple jewelry.