While trying to figure out the best project for this cheerful sunflower printed quilting cotton, I was reminded how much I love my cotton Anna Dress. It is one of my favorite, easy to wear garments for warm weather days, and it's beginning to show it's age.
So it seemed like as good a time as any to make myself another. This print, that was originally slated for a 1990s inspired spaghetti strap dress in my mind, became an obvious choice for another Summer dress.
I stabilized the neckline with some seam binding to keep the v-neck from stretching before beginning the construction of the dress.
Since I have multiple versions of this dress and I am familiar with the process, the pattern went together easily.
I did add some length to the sleeves which I have done before.
And while I did have a limited amount of yardage, I was able to get a pretty good match at center back for the bodice (the skirt was a different story).
One thing to note is that this pattern is drafted extremely long. Well, the bodice is drafted for a short-waisted person, and the skirt for someone over 6 feet tall! I shortened the skirt considerably due to yardage restrictions, but I still ended up with a decent amount of length.
I like to reinforce cut-in-one sleeves with top-stitching and a strip of seam binding on the inside. With a busy print, the top-stitching is barely visible. And this technique stabilizes an area that has to be clipped and trimmed quite a bit to release the inner curve of the sleeve.
Raw edges were also finished with rayon seam binding.
I have a complicated relationship with invisible zippers, but I decided to go ahead and use one since the pattern calls for it, I had a good color match, and I have used them for this pattern on previous versions. Seeing as my cotton wasn't too thick, and there was only one horizontal seam to contend with, I went ahead with the invisible zip. And it all worked out in the end.
The sleeve and skirt hems were hand stitched into place. I do love my hand stitching!
And that's about it for this dress.
This is my fifth version of the Anna Dress, and I believe this version will be a welcome addition to the collection.
The sunflower print makes this the perfect easy to wear sundress and the colorway even allows it to be a Fall appropriate choice!
