My first Rosa dress/first post-baby dress!

I wouldn’t normally say this… but maaaan am I proud of myself for this make. Reasons being twofold; 1 – It’s beaut, 2 – THIS IS MY FIRST MAKE SINCE HAVING THE BABY!

Yep, that’s right. I have a 6 month old AND a whole Tilly and the Buttons Rosa dress. Go me! Sewn entirely in baby nap times. That, my friends, is the ultimate #naptimehustle!

The Rosa dress pattern was released back when I was pregnant. I bought it from Tilly herself at The Handmade Fair. So I knew I wouldn’t be making/wearing a Rosa dress any time soon, as it wouldn’t exactly work with a bump!

So now that I am starting to manage nap times a little bit better, I have been able to steal pockets of time to get my arse back in the sewing room. All part of feeling a bit more like myself again. And it has felt SO good.

The first time I went into the sewing room after having the baby I cried my eyes out. It felt like I was looking at someone else’s life, and couldn’t see how I would ever be able to do even a tiny bit of sewing ever again (all doom and gloom eh!).

But here I am. 6 months down the line. And I have impressed even myself.

Anyway – back to the dress…

Just before I had the baby (literally while I was in labour at home, having my contractions), I decided I wanted to make a dress using different shades of denim. I had been seeing this mixed denim look on the high street quite a bit, so decided to make my own version.

Rosa was an obvious choice, because I had been waiting to make one for the whole of pregnancy – plus, the dress panels meant that using different shades of denim would look more effective.

So sitting there on the sofa, waiting for baby to drop, I planned out how much fabric to order for each shade of denim. Then swiftly placed my order with Fabric Godmother.

The pattern itself was as you would expect – easy to follow with great instructions.

My main challenge with this dress was getting the topstitching just perfect. I had a few sewing machine issues (I am out of love with my Janome DKS100 for breaking twice now!). Once I managed to get my machine fixed, topstitching was a breeze.

Then before I stitched up the side seams, I just checked out fitting by pinning the seams up. She was tight! So I ended up sewing the sides up with a tiny seam allowance. All ended well and I don’t think I looked like ‘the snake that snacked’.

As I was sewing this dress, I kept having reservations about whether or not the mixed denims would work. It wasn’t until I finished it and put it on that I fell in love with it.

I am so so so so happy with the finish. It was worth the time perfecting the white topstitching. And I even managed to finish the dress in time for wearing to The Sewing Weekender. High five to that!

Thanks for reading sewing fans.

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