Simplicity 9041 in Liberty London

I’ve been sewing like normal but I’ve been seriously struggling to write posts lately! As a result, I have a backlog of projects to blog but the upside is that I get to take my pick on which one to write about! So here’s the favorite of all my recent (and not so recent…seriously struggling!) projects:

A successful Simplicity 9041!

There are three reasons this was ended up being a great project: First, this is the THIRD time I’ve tried to make this pattern. The first and second attempts, sadly, were fails. This iteration finally worked out! Second, I used some fabric I’d previously been too nervous to cut into, a lovely Liberty London Tana Lawn. There’s always a worry when cutting into precious (or hoarded) fabric, and I’m so glad this worked out. And third, I think this dress included my best sewing I’ve ever done. And I recognize that that sounds totally ridiculous, but it’s true! Almost all of my projects have seams or corners or hems that are a lot or a little off, but I took great care with this dress to pin and sew carefully and I think it shows.

Let’s talk about the fabric first!

For my dress I used a lovely Liberty London Tana Lawn. Here’s the thing: this fabric is expensive and totally out of my price range. Thankfully though, my good cousin let me know about a shop called Duckadilly that has remnant sales for Liberty London fabrics at a marked down price per yard. Typically this fabric costs $40ish per yard but the sale offers it for half that, I believe. I signed up for their emails and just when I started to think they’d never have a sale, they announced one.

They have thousands of remnants available for their online sale and the sale goes live at a certain time. Let me tell you, the sale is NUTS. I knew I needed to hurry, so I added 3 things to my cart in 5 minutes or less but when I clicked to check out, the things I’d selected had already been snatched by other people! But I was determined to walk away from this having ordered something, dog gone it! I realized the remnants that were over 3 yards were sticking around a little longer, so I focused in on those fabrics and found this floral (named Margaret Annie) that I really liked. The only bad thing was that the smallest piece left was 5 yards and 23 inches, which put that one length of fabric over $100. So that was a little hard to stomach, but I knew I’d use the fabric and then find something to do with the leftovers, so I went for it.

And then I made the mistake of continuing to browse the sale which ended in my placing another, similarly priced order, but we can talk about that another day (that length of fabric hasn’t been used yet!).

Anyway, I bought the fabric a year and half ago and I’ve told myself to turn it into something instead of letting it sit on my shelf for 10 years, but it’s been difficult to find a project that seems worthy of such a lovely fabric, and one that cost me so much money. But then I realized something. I paid 19.75 per yard for this Liberty London fabric. Yes, I had to buy a ton of it which made the overall cost a little jarring, but 19.75 is kind of the average cost of good quality fabric these days. Seeing the cost as something that’s not completely outside the realm of what’s normal for me was helpful in making me feel like I could actually use the fabric up.

I know there’s some back and forth about whether Liberty London is worth the high price tag and I can’t compare it to similarly priced fabric (because I’ve never used similarly priced fabric ha). But I can say this this is definitely some of the best quality fabric I’ve ever used in my sewing. The fabric is fine, crisp, silky, easy to work with. I was surprised at how small my over 5 yard package of this stuff was. I obviously won’t swap to using Liberty London exclusively but it was a treat to work with and has been a treat to wear too.

Moving on, after almost making it into a handful of different dresses, I had the thought to try the Simplicity 9041 with it and I jumped to get to work. If I wait too long after getting an idea, I can fizzle or overthink and I didn’t want that to happen!

I had made some minor shortening adjustments for my first two tries at sewing this dress, but they didn’t really turn out for me, so I scrapped them and tried again. For this version I didn’t adjust the bodice length at all. That might contribute to some of the gaping that happens at the neckline, but the waist hits at my waist which is more important to me.

I’ve gone a little too deep into shortening sleeves many times in the past and I didn’t want to make that mistake here. I shortened, but just by a half inch, which works perfectly.

I did make my 3/8ths inch forward shoulder adjustment and I kept that. I don’t know that I’ve ever regretted that adjustment. And for the skirt, I cut the midi length. I think on my second version, I tried to save fabric by cutting the skirt on the fold to conserve fabric but that’s a bad idea! It takes away from the fullness. I cut this skirt out as directed, on the bias, even though doing so is way more of a fabric hog.

I wish I’d taken pictures of how to sew the neckline together because, even after the third time sewing this dress, that is still the hardest part! It is not intuitive at all! But, alas, I didn’t take pictures. I think I said it before but I’ll say it again. Yes, you need two neckband pieces. Notches are everything here! And the neckband isn’t inserted how you think it’s inserted. Read the instructions again!

Ah, someone yelling at you on the internet. Very helpful, I know.

The instructions for the waist tie are befuddling (not like, “How??” But like, “Why??”). I do not understand the designer’s vision for sewing the tie, but I personally think it is dumb. (sorrynotsorry). How I did it isn’t much better but I do think it is slightly better. First, I sewed both ties starting from the center, going around and leaving a gap, and then I used a ladder stitch to close them up by hand. Then I butted the very end of the tie to the side seam at the waist and hand sewed it in place. I sewed over it 2-3 times and I fully expect the stitches to come out at some point BUT they look better this way and make more sense to me. There is an elastic sewn into the waist of the dress, which is why the ties aren’t sewn into the seam there. I couldn’t think of a better way to sew them into place so that’s what I did for better or worse.

And the dress has pockets! Always a plus!

Anyway, I’m super happy with my dress! I’m glad I went for it even though, as far as sewing goes, it sat on the higher end of risky.

Pattern: Simplicity 9041
Size: 14
Adjustments: shortened sleeve 1/2 inch; made a 3/8ths inch FSA
Fabric: Liberty London Tana Lawn in Margaret Annie (I) from Duckadilly
Cost: I bought 5 yards and 23 inches of fabric for 19.75 per yard (total was $111)-I have over 2 yards left over; elastic and thread from stash
Would I make this pattern again?: Maybe! I do love the silhouette!