Happy New Year, everyone.
I was surprised the other month when sorting out my stash, that I have quite a collection of blues. They are in my colours and three pieces have materialised in my wardrobe – the cargo pants and then the navy pants and top during last year.
I then found some navy linen in my stash, Simplicity 2648 and inspiration from DrienPA on Pattern Review, I have completed the 2nd version of this dress.
I remembered seeing an article in Australian Stitches (Vol 19, Issue 7) that Alison, The Sewing Lady had written where she had constructed a Marfy jacket and then hand stitched around the jacket and pockets that looked like pickstitch. Luckily for me Alison had adjusted this pattern for me, so I was able to contact her to find out a bit more detail on how to do the pickstitch on my dress.
The dress was cut out and the front (princess seams and waist) and back (darts and waist) pieces where sewn together (but not at the shoulders or side seams). Then I,
- Set up my Janome sewing machine with the G foot and a 4.0 twin needle.
- Threaded the machine with a cream Gutterman thread, reduced the tension to 1.5 and the stitch length to 3.5 and needle position at 2.4.
- Stitched from the armhole, lining the G foot guide along the princess seam and stitched all the way down both front princess seams, making sure that the stitches crossed the waist seam at the same point. This gave me a good reference point for the pickstitch.
- Then on Boxing Day, I threaded up a Size 24 Tapestry needle with Gutterman Topstitch thread 722 and proceeded to pickstitch using every 2nd stitch as my guide to bring the needle back up.
- Carefully removed the Gutterman thread and gave the seams a good press.
The rest of the dress went together pretty quickly.
The dress is lined and has a lace hem and the back vent has a hong-kong finish to the edge.
Then I found this necklace that needed to be reworked.
 |
| After sitting all day |
Here is a close up of the pickstitch after the guide threads have been removed.
I can see this dress will get a lot of wear.
Petite & Sewing 
Lovely dress and stitching. Thanks for sharing the technique. I'll have to give it a go sometime.
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Oh, the stitch outlining is lovely!
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A really pretty dress and I love the pick stitch. I've always wanted to try it. You've inspired me Sharon.Your dress fits you so well too!
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This dress looks brilliant! I really like the pick stitch, very couture!
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Sharon, I am loving seeing you wear blue! Gorgeous work, as usual.
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The pick stitching and the linen, wrinkles and all, the dress is just stunning. Luv it. Linen has always been my favourite.
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Perfect fit, love it! 🙂
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I am loving linen also in this warm weather. The dress is really working for you! The colour is great, the pattern and fit are perfect and the pick stitch emphasies your slim figure! Fantastic!
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That pick-stitching is just brilliant. You certainly have a winner with this dress…
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Cute dress. You did a great job of pick stitching. Very nice. That dress would look nice with a little white jacket for cool nights. Do you have cool nights?
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Great fitting dress Sharon. This is beautifully made and styled:)
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Love this dress…so sleek and stylish! The pick stitching is perfect….thanks for the \”how to\” steps. I bet you get compliments left, right and centre when you wear this!
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Your dress looks fantastic Sharon, the pick stitching is a really lovely finishing touch.
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Wow Sharon, your fit is amazing. I love the hand-picked look, it makes those seams pop. I like your idea of sewing a basting stitch to guide the hand stitches. My sister says that the wrinkles on linen are fashionable wrinkles.
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How lovely. Thaks for showing us how to do it, that's cetainly very useful.
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Oh, Sharon, this is lovely! It really suits you and the fit is perfect. What a fantastic addition to your summer wardrobe.
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