B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!! Legit that’s the only way to describe this dress. On it’s own, the construction of this Woven Basics Dress by Michelle Karch is flawless. But then, the EPP flare on the bottom is genius and amazeballs and wowzers. I am absolutely planning to steal this idea for apparel in the future. Imagine elbow patches, knee patches, the bottom of pants, on a pocket, omg I have so many ideas. This project was definitely a showstopper in my booth at Spring Quilt Market and each time I talked about it I came up with another way to use this technique. Super duper clever.
I love me some progress photos, especially with English Paper Pieces, so I was super stoked when Michelle had some to share. I love the choice of honeycombs for this.
I asked Michelle to share herself with all of you and here she is:
Hi y’all, I’m Michelle Karch and I own Serafina1973. I’ve been a lifelong fiber lover and was introduced to the creative arts at a very young age via crochet by my paternal grandmother; however that was pretty much it. The rest has all been self-learned and I’ll always consider myself a work in progress striving for improvement and knowledge. I currently sew it all and write bag and quilt patterns available at quilt shops across the U.S. but my first love is always garments, particularly dressmaking. There’s just something about constructing a dress that gets me all heart eyes every time!
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when the opportunity to make this dress for Mathew arose! His excitement over sewing and EPP mirrors my own joy and a fabric line was never so perfectly matched for a sweet summer dress. I’ve made this dress before for another fabric house and couldn’t wait to make it again. I used the Woven Basics dress pattern by Alison Glass and Karen LePage. The specific style is the Bracelet-Sleeved Gathered Dress, minus the sleeves. The EPP design is all me and I just played with the measurements and some paper pieces until I hit gold. I used Paper Pieces honeycombs and Aurifil 50wt cotton for the EPP. I used clear YLI Wonder Invisible Thread as top thread and Aurifil 50wt cotton in the bobbin to then machine stitch the medallions to the dress. Easy peasy! Seriously y’all, this was so much fun to make! I’ll be working up a tutorial if you’d like to make your own or are just curious about my process.
If you’re interested in seeing more of my work or buying my patterns, you can find me at
- INSTAGRAM: @serafina1973
- BLOG: https://www.serafina1973.wordpress.com
- CRAFTSY: https://www.craftsy.com/profile/serafina-1973
ADDITIONAL SUPPLY/PRODUCT LINKS
Here’s some pictures from my booth. I love the look of the dress against the enlarged Mandala Drops print.
And then here are some pictures from me taking the dress out on the town. On a side note, if you ever wanted local promotion for a pattern or fabric, make a dress, put it on a dress form and take it to the local park and hiking trails. So many people came up to me and many of them were sewists and makers.
Thanks a million Michelle for being a part of my Loved to Pieces journey.
[mailchimp_subscriber_popup baseUrl=’mc.us13.list-manage.com’ uuid=’7cb8f88750148536623242803′ lid=’b4d592cf7e’ usePlainJson=’true’ isDebug=’false’]
While I don’t promote anything unless I legit love it, this post contains affiliate links.
Wow!!! What a great idea to use EPP!! Love the design, the dress and the fabric?
Beautiful piece work!