| Pattern: | Cambie Dress by Sewaholic Patterns |
| Size: | 6 |
| Fabric: | light blue linen-cotton mix, bright blue polyester lining, both from my stash |
| Details: | stripe-matching, in-seam pockets with french seams, self-lined bodice |
| Alterations: | – cut bodice and waistband on the bias – cut front bodice as two and waistband as four pieces – shortened shoulder straps to prevent front neckline gaping – ignored skirt pattern pieces and „drafted“ my own slightly less full skirt in 150 cm width – probably drafted it shorter as well (hemmed skirt length is 50 cm/19.5″) |
| Make Again? | Yes! |
| Notes for next time: | – slightly take in waist and lower waistband – draft a lower back neckline to prevent arm dislocation when reaching for the zipper |
Anyway, I thought it was about time to make one of the Greatest Hits of the indie sewing pattern world. Being the only person on the internet who never made a Cambie dress, it really was long overdue.
What I love about Cambie are the details – the sleeves, the sweetheart neckline and the full skirt. Plus, this pattern looks fabulous on anyone. Seriously: I’ve never seen a version that didn’t make me crave my own Cambie.
The fabric is from my stash: It’s heavier than shirting cotton but looser woven and has a lot of drape to it, perfect for the Cambie skirt. It’s from a flea market so I can only guess the material, but it seems like a cotton linen mix. It ironed, cut and sewed like a dream, doesn’t crease a lot and since I cut almost all pieces on the bias, fraying wasn’t much of a problem either.
The pattern instruction call for 2.3 meters of fabric for the full skirted version. I only had about 1.8 meters but since the skirt basically consisty of three rectangles I „redrafted“ it myself, which meant cutting the desired length as one piece from the 150 cm wide fabric, then making three pieces. It is not as wide as the original version now, but I put the fabric I had to good use. Plus: The selvedge served as an already finished center back seam. There was even still enough fabric left to cut all other pieces on the bias, including the ones for the self-lined bodice.
Had there been more time, I would have definitely gone crazy lining the bodice in the pocket fabric with an additional facing in the shell fabric similar to Gertie’s version. Well, you can’t have it all.
Playing with the stripes was so much fun! I kinda have a thing for pattern matching.
All in all, Cambie was a rather quick make. Many sewing bloggers recommended going down a size, which was perfect. I had no fitting issues except for some gaping at the front neckline, which is probably due to the soft fabric and the cut on the bias. It’s all stay-stitched and understitched, but it might have deserved some extra attention none the less. Luckily, most of it could be fixed by shortening the shoulder straps. I bookmarked this link and this pin for next time.
One thing I would definitely change next time is the back neckline. It’s pretty high which makes reaching for the zipper rather uncomfortable. Plus, with all the lovely details on the front, the back deserves some attention to detail, too.
This was my fourth handmade dress and it was so much fun. There’s still a Rooibos, an Elisalex and a Vogue dress sitting in my pattern stash. Might give those a try in the near future …
So how is your summer sewing coming along? Have you participated in any sewing/knitting challenges recently?
