I never thought I would EVER sew with reversible, scuba/neoprene, foamcore fabric! Why? Because it sounds extremely complicated. Well, I am here to tell you it is not!

I’ve stalked Apple Annie Fabric store online since 2012 and when I recently saw this interesting fabric it peaked my interest. Once my new fabric arrived I started studying the drape of the fabric. It behaves light and airy but had great structure without the weight. A cute 1960 Star Trek style A-line would be perfect.

Making garments with suitable fabrics for what looks good on your body is a key element to garment sewing success. I know this because I learned the hard way and by always remaining a student.

I did the diligent dig through my pattern collection until I found one I could hack.

Before getting started I set up my machines by putting in a stretch 12 size needle, my walking foot and the closest color thread I could find.

Cutting this fabric is so easy, doesn’t slip or cut choppy. My first hack was to use the bodice of the dress pieces, omitting the darts, because knit doesn’t need them. Next, I shaped the waistline to curve up at the belly and back in hopes to look longer.

Next hack was to make the sleeve longer. This was easy to do.

Last was to cut out the skirt of the dress matching that curve at the bodice. The skirt and length was on the fly because I wanted to use as much fabric as possible.

To save time I serged around all my pieces while they were flat and easy to work with. The exceptions were on the neckline, armholes and waistband. The serger might distort them depending on the direction you sew.

Picking the zipper was a problem. I went with black. If done correctly the zip shouldn’t show. I did it correctly and mine still shows! GASP

To make it almost zero waste I added cuffs, a skirt gusset and a collar on the reverse side to use up my larger scraps. Then I fitted it to get a good look!

This dress fits well, is warm and is lightly water resistant!

This fabric would also make a great blazer or suit jacket.

Behind the scenes~

As it has been recommended that we begin wearing masks in public spaces I have partnered with Welker Studio. He was kind enough to donate his silk tie collection for me to create artistic cloth masks.

I will be selling these 2 for 30 each evening as often as I can get them done on the premise of getting one for yourself and one for you to give to a person in need. This is also a great way to help support me and my family as we are both currently shut out from our small business revenue streams.

These masks have an extra layer of interfacing inside to stabilize the silk, but it also works as a filter. These are not N95 masks.

I’ll keep everyone updated and thank you Terry and Sandy! Thank you all for any support during these difficult times.

“We all need a little art in our lives right now.” – Terry Welker

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Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh

Dreamt! Sew it!

Tracy McElfresh
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