A peasant-style tiered dress anyone ?

Tell me this also happens to you:

You got yourself a new pattern but you don’t have a clue on how to start it. Every single piece of fabric in your stash just doesn’t seem right for it and even after seeing some great versions from other persons, you still can’t make it happen!

This happens to me more often than I’d like to acknowledge 🙂

I’m quite conservative in my sewing choices so everything that falls out of my “comfort zone” becomes quite a challenge for me.

The new Stacia pattern from the Children’s Corner was one of these “challenges”.

I had seen quite a few lovely versions of this dress (I was particularly captured by a white summer version I saw in CC Facebook group but that just wasn’t what I had in mind), yet and because the design is so different from my usual style I just couldn’t see it …

Well, and because I knew I wanted to sew a Stacia before the summer was over – the pattern includes both short and long sleeves versions, but I wanted to try the short sleeve version first – I gave myself a deadline. Usually a deadline works for me 🙂

Can you guess what happened next?

I finally picked a fabric from my stash (Liberty D’Anjo bought from a few seasons ago), decided on a matching trim and sew it in a few hours (almost 4). And I only wish I had sew it earlier! I love it 🙂

I should have guessed it: the Stacia is a peasant-style tiered dress, and although I don’t usually take a second look at this type of dresses (for no specific reason), I think it were actually the tiers that made it work so well.

A word of advice nevertheless; The Stacia it’s truly not your typical homemade peasant-style tiered dress pattern. I’m sure, there were some serious pattern making involved for this pattern – the fit is amazing and you actually end up with a very professional dress.

I’m not quite sure if it’s clear from these pictures, but it also includes narrow (underarm) ties so that the dress can be adjusted to your girl. I was also very impressed with the neckline (noticed the soft gathers at the neckline?).

As for the fit on my girl, I think it’s perfect (a bit o, but that was totally my fault), right?

I suspect I don’t need to say much about the quality of Children’s Corner instructions (I’ve mentioned it so many times before), but I must confess that this pattern was truly a great surprise (I should have known better, of course).

I did a few mods to the pattern (just because I was using what I had in my cupboard. Remember the deadline?): the pattern asks for a contrasting band at the top of two of three tiers, but I opted to add a matching trim instead and because I also run short of fabric, my bottom tier is 1 1/2 inches shorter than the original pattern (and that makes a big difference in the final result. My girl really could use that extra length).

The Stacia dress is rated as a moderate pattern in terms of sewing difficulty. I wouldn’t consider it particularly difficult, but it does have a few gathers to tackle and that may take some time. I didn’t use any special foot for the gathers, so I reckon this is totally doable for a beginner.

(PS. The package also includes sizes 1 to 10 years, which makes it a great value. I made the size 6).

Now, I think I’ll be setting another deadline for a winter version. I’m quite confident a long-sleeve corduroy version will look wonderful paired with boots.

Happy sewing,

xo ana sofia