The Orchid Midi Dress

You guys may remember this lovely thing from my Instagram grid at the end of June! I was lucky enough to be gifted this fabric by Minerva Crafts, and you can find a full blog post about it over on their blog today! I posted it to my grid a bit early, however, so that I could participate in #SewMyStyle2019, the #FlashbackSewingChallenge, and #SewAllTheFlowers – this dress was clearly the PERFECT June make!

I’d had my eye on this pattern since it was released alongside the Parasol Jumpsuit, and I loved the fun pattern pairing the two pattern companies did together. I’d been wanting to make both patterns ever since, so when I saw that the Orchid Midi was one of the featured patterns for Sew My Style for the month of June, I jumped at it. I’m so glad I did – this was one of the greatest patterns I’ve worked with in quite awhile, no detail was left out!

As the dress slowly came together, I kept getting such a 70’s vibe from it – I think the combination of the midi-length skirt, the huge floral motif, and the great, bold colors worked so well together to encapsulate some of the best of 1970s style. Once I had it all constructed, I threw on some old forgotten gold wedges hiding in the back of my closet and fully embraced the 70’s-ness of the whole thing! It was the perfect way to work a make into the Flashback Sewing Challenge. I’m always happy to dig into a little 1960s / 1970s fashion inspiration – when I was a kid, I truly felt like I’d been born 30 years too late!!

Florals are a favorite of mine, so this was also a great way to add another entry into the Sew All the Flowers challenge that Mijke hosted in the summer. I especially loved the large-scale print of this floral fabric; that’s not always something I find easy to come by!! 

Dress: handmade by me
Fabric: Minerva Crafts – Lady McElroy Coleman Bouquet Cotton Lawn in Gold
Pattern: Chalk & Notch – Orchid Midi Dress (View B) 

Key Ingredients:
Brother XR9500PRW Sewing Machine
Brother 1034D Overlocker
Schmetz Universal Machine Needles – Size 70/10
Dahle 36×48 Self-healing Cutting Mat

To read a little bit more about everything I LOVED about both this fabric and pattern, head over to the Minerva blog today! Though the fabric used in this post was generously provided to me by the awesome team at Minerva, all opinions expressed both here and over at the Minerva Blog are my own, as always! 

• XX Elizabeth