Lemon Meringue Dress
—by Heather
The newest Figgy’s patterns are—once again—extremely cute, stylish and versatile. The Scirocco dress is my favorite, hands down. I have pretty much been obsessed with this dress since Shelly and Daniela posted a sneak peek of it on the Figgy’s Facebook page. It is the best combination of elegance and playfulness! My poor co-workers have had to listen to my planning and scheming for weeks now.
This cheerful yellow polka dot just says summer to me. The large scale of the dots is just so perfect for this dress—I would not have thought to go this way without having seen it already done. I couldn’t resist using the same fabric in this sunshiney, lemony color. Makes me think of lemon pie.
This dress is fun to make. There are enough challenges to make it interesting without being too difficult. However, I would not categorize this as an advanced beginner pattern as Figgy’s has. Without more detailed illustrations and descriptive instructions, I’d have to call this a solid intermediate pattern, as it takes some sewing intuition. It is a well-thought-out design though. The construction is thorough and smart, something that I really appreciate in sewing patterns.
About the sizing: it seems a bit squat to me. I made the 6/7 for my almost 7-year-old girl and she was swimming in the bodice, yet the skirt fit her well, if not a tad short. Maybe she is extra tall and lanky for her age, although I’ve never thought of her that way. When I make this again, I will blend the 4/5 and 6/7 for the bodice and add a little length to the skirt pieces. If you are thinking of making this dress, I’d recommend bringing your child in to try on this sample. Shelly also brought in a 4/5 sample which you could try as well. The other change I plan to make, simply for comfort, is to reduce the width of the opening in the back at the bottom a little. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous as is, but some kids (mine, for example) may feel a bit too exposed. Other variations you could try would be to skip the pleat on the front of the bodice and just run a wide ribbon down the front. Or three rows of narrow ric-rac. Or a few rows of machine embroidery. There are so many possibilities…
These patterns have been in the store for a couple weeks now and we’ve already had to re-order. You all must be making some good stuff and we’d love to see the results. You can post photos to our Flickr pool, or better yet, have your kiddo wear their new duds into the store and show them off that way!
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One thing I find very interesting about Figgy’s as a company is their policy on sharing. If you, as a home sewer want to make these clothes to sell, you need only sew one of their lovely labels into the garment. Each pattern comes with one label, but you can buy more through Figgy’s website for an extremely reasonable price. In some ways, when I think about all the hard work that goes into designing and developing these beautiful patterns it almost seems too generous. But I know that being supportive of home sewers is important to Shelly and Daniela and I find that very refreshing. Thank you, ladies. Our community is lucky to have you.