A Love Notions Mash Up – Tessa and Sybil

I am back with another Love Notions Dress and a mash up to boot! So I sewed up Momma Mia’s first Tessa dress a month or so ago and she loved it! Actually I loved it too, but sadly it hasn’t been on the Love Notions size upgrade list yet so I will keep sewing them for Momma Mia. Last time, my promo fabric from Stitchin’ Pretties came with a note saying it would love to become a beautiful dress. So I made the fabric’s dreams come true and it became a Tessa Sheath Dress! This time I received this pretty red floral double brushed poly fabric without a note, but it was screaming at me to make it a dress.
I have a confession to make, when I order fabric, I usually don’t have a plan in mind. My second confession, I told Laura at Stitchin’ Pretties to “just send me something.” I trust her and her product. She doesn’t let me down! When this fabric arrived on my door step, I knew that it would be a dress. I typically feel that fabric with larger open spaces of background does well as dresses. Compared to a tank top, there wouldn’t be as much room to show off a great print! I love print, busy prints! Momma Mia isn’t quiet as flashy as I am in the print department. I knew I was making her a dress with this fabric! I decided on another Tessa, but with a twist. In case you do not know, you can mash the Tessa Bodice with all the skirts from Sybil. I used the Aline skirt from Sybil. This will give her dress a little bit of flirty flare, but not full on twirl factor! Also I only had 2 yards of fabric to work with. Speaking on the 2 yards, since the back bodice is “Cut as mirror image” you can use less fabric than if you had to “Cut on the Fold.”
*You can use this tip for any top pattern. If you don’t have enough fabric to cut a front and back bodice on the fold, you may be able to use the mirror image cutting technique. Just remember to add seam allowances if you adjust from cut on the fold to mirror image or your neckband won’t fit properly.

Tessa #2 with the Sybil skirt portion.

Tessa #1 with Tessa skirt portion.

You may have noticed that I colorblocked this Tessa with the fantastic Royal Blue. I have a bunch of smaller usable scraps from a few months ago, plus still some yardage tucked away. I have SO MUCH LOVE for this color! So at first glance, I was torn as to whether this royal blue was too bold for the red print. Typically, I encourage folks to “mind the tones” of your colors. For example, the royal blue is a jewel tone and the red isn’t. I posted a side by side picture in the group and asked if it works, yea or no. I got both responses, so that wasn’t at all helpful. In the end, my mind was made up and I made the first cut. Speed work for about an hour and TA-DA! Momma has a new dress. I put the finished dress on the dress form which has basically taken up residence in my living room window. I LOVED it! Like really loved it. I left it there for 3 days! When I delivered it, Momma Mia loved it too. She just happened to have perfectly matching shoes and a purse to add to her photo session! She is too much some days! Side note, I delivered this dress Monday evening. When I saw her on Tuesday, she was wearing it. She had been grocery shopping in it! 🙂 You go Momma! I am glad she is always willing to wear the clothes I make her. She makes this daughter proud!

This red floral print is called Felicia and I knew Momma Mia was going to LOVE it! This fabric was easy to sew and it drapes nicely. I did notice a little bit of wrinkling after I had thrown it in a bag to take it to Momma Mia, but a quick tumble in the dryer fixed it right up! This fabric has a nice weight to it also. As usual, Laura ships within a day and runs great sales and has really awesome fabric. Honestly, if you don’t know about Stitchin‘ Pretties, you are missing out.

I used the same boat neck line as the first Tessa, color blocked at the yoke and 3/4 sleeves. The above photo really shows the width difference in the skirt compared to the Sheath Style of the original Tessa. I love the that all 7 of the Sybil skirts fit with the Tessa. Maybe Momma Mia will end up with the entire collection. 🙂 I don’t think she would mind.

Blowing in the breeze!

Love Notions Patterns

Tessa Dress

**The dress features a bateau or scoop neckline, optional yoke detail and five sleeve lengths: sleeveless, short, elbow, 3/4 and long. Two hem lengths are also included- above knee and shin. Bonus- the bodice part of the pattern can also be easily mashed with the Sybil Skirt Collection.

Sybil Skirts

**Meant for knit fabrics, the Sybil comes with seven variations: pencil, a-line, swing, drop yoke with swing, gored, asymmetrical wrap and pleated. All versions, with the exception of the drop yoke, also have knee and midi length options as well as inseam pockets. All skirt waistbands can include the optional hidden control panel or a yoga-style waistband, no closures needed.

Before you leave my blog, did you check out The Fitting Experiment from 2 days ago? Did you leave a comment for a chance to win a pretty Love Notions Sabrina Slims pattern?

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