Welcome 2015 with a new John Kaldor dress from Minerva Crafts UK using Vogue 1344 for Summer. Yes. We’re in the middle of Summer and in Sydney it’s usually hot, humid but it’s also a month of celebrations and a loose dress that breathes is what gets me through this fabulous weather.
John Kaldor fabrics
Both fabrics have 55% linen and 45% cotton: navy/ivory and red/cream.
They washed nicely; kept their colour; ironed nicely and creased a bit. Good linen crushes so I expected this from these two fabrics. What I also expected was for these fabrics to be scratchy but they’re soft and they softened on washing them. It was lovely to iron this dress during construction because it made my sewing look impressive.
I expected good results from a John Kaldor fabric and I got it. Well I used John Kaldor lawn for my December make and the fabric and the dress were a Christmas success.
Vogue 1344
My Google image researchshowed this pattern was a Summer favourite and with the amount of eating in the lead up to the New Year, an easy dress was needed for the New Year.
The testdress showed up a couple of areas I needed to ‘tweak’.
I took out one of the front shoulder pleats.
The front neckline was also shortened by 2cm so it didn’t fall open.
I added 2cm to the back shoulder line and took off 2cm from the front shoulder line.
The front overlay was a bit too heavy for me so I folded out the curve at the waistline.
I took out some of the skirt hem width but used the longest hem as it sits above my knees. Just right for me.
And I also decided to pleat the front overlay instead of adding more gathers to what was going to be a gathered waistline using the elastic.
So now I have an easy to wear dress for the Summer. My version is unlined. That’s another great aspect of using these John Kaldor fabrics for Summer.
It sits away from my body but keeps me cool.
This dress is so easy to wear and feels comfortable.
This has been an easy dress to make for 2015. And isn’t it always the way that once you’ve made a great dress using great fabric you kick yourself for not getting more of it? I used every piece of the navy/ivory print but have a bit of the red/cream print to use another day…
Wishing you all a great 2015.
velosews.com 
Happy New Year Maria!
I like your new short hair
Such a nice dress to start off 2015 in.
It is currently 24F here. Enjoy your warm weather!! 🙂
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Happy New Year – what a smart new dress to greet it with. It's not easy to get cotton -linen Kaldor fabric, so you were lucky. Love the new, short summer hairstyle.
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I like your new year dress, thanks for posting your tweaks. Your Christmas dress was a hit too, loved that navy. Happy Sewing New Year.
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Love the contrasting sleeves. I have just finished a summer dress toile which is a bit wishful thinking at the moment in icy Wales! Can't wait for my summer holidays! 🙂
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I love the contrast sleeves on this, what a great idea. Looks perfect for hot weather, something we definitely haven't got here! Happy New Year to you and Mr V.
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Very nice! Happy New Year!
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Maria! I love this dress on you! Your fabric choice is great and thanks for sharing your tweaks.
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That is a very pretty dress and I love the pop of red.
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It looks really striking and cool to wear.
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Happy New Year Kyle. I'm glad you like this outfit.
Keep warm:)
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Happy New Year Sarah Liz.
I'm very lucky to be able to use John Kaldor fabric again. Thanks.
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Happy New Year KaShu.
I hope the 'tweaks' post helps you if you decide to make this dress.
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HC, there's nothing wrong with planning ahead to keep you warm. One day I hope to be in the Northern hemisphere for Christmas.
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Happy New Year Sam. I hope this post has warmed you up a bit:)
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Thanks Margo. It's been lovely working with linen and wearing it in hot weather.
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Isn't it nice to have a pretty dress once in a while:)
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It is a relief to wear in our heat and humidity. The fabric looks fresh even when I'm wilting.
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You are not wrong about the heat! Can I be honest and say that dress would look better with red at hemline to balance the contrast? Otherwise, love it.
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That's an option. Would you have used the red for the full skirt or the overlay or both?
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Thanks Vicki.
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I like the pop of colour and it looks like a really comfortable dress.
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What a fun dress for summer! The pattern has some great lines for showing off such a fresh fabric like this.
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Oooh lovely! I have this cut out (for six months now) I really must get to it!!
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