Uptown/Downtown Dress Expansion Tour

This story starts with me making a rash fabric purchase (is there any other kind?).  I grabbed some Frozen themed cotton lycra knit for Miss M on a destash page.  Then of course I needed to find the perfect pattern.  I knew I wanted a dress, and I also knew that due to the larger print I wanted the front and back cut in one piece each, rather than a separate bodice and skirt, easy right?  Well actually I had to d a bit of searching but then someone pointed me towards the Uptown/Downtown dress by Sew Straight and Gather.  I was just getting around to buying it when Terri released the free expansion pack and then I HAD to have it.
So lets start with the original, you get a choice of 3 sleeve options (sleeveless, cap sleeves or 3/4 sleeves), lovely clean lines with just enough twirl to be perfect, a lined bodice (meaning a nice clean neckline) and even the option of lining the sleeves (or a fully reversible option for the sleeveless dress).  All this comes in sizes 2-10y as well, I told you it was perfect!
So here is my version of the original Uptown/Downtown dress with cap sleeves, it is so perfect for all those knits that you have with larger prints.

 I love the nice clean neckline.

And a certain small child was pretty pleased with this one too given her current Frozen obsession :-)  I made a size 3 with 4 length and added about 4cm to the hem just to be sure this would last us through summer.  The fit is fabulous.

 Following the success of this dress I had to jump at the opportunity to join in the blog tour and try out the expansion pack.  So what is included int hat you ask?  There are 5 expansions including a cowl neck, maxi option, pockets, long sleeves and a tank version.  I love them all but since we are heading into summer I decided to try the tank version.  I even had the perfect fabric in stash (now that's surprising), again a nice large print cotton/spandex mix that is really shown off beautifully in this pattern.

Front

Back

 I hadn't actually done a tank with binding like this before but the instructions were fantastic and I had no issues.  I stitched this on with my standard machine and then used my twin needle to give a nice finish.  I used a white cotton/lycra for the binding the straps and cut this to the length of the armhole of the original dress and got a perfect length strap - whew.  This will depend a lot on the fabric you use for the binding however.

Binding

 I also twin needles the hem :-)

 And decided to add in pockets this time too.

 Again this is the size 3 with 4 length (plus 4cm) and the fit is spot on. I'm really pleased with how well teh straps and binding sit as I was a bit worried they might bag a wee bit but no!  Woohoo.

Please check out the other amazing creations for this blog tour during this week :-)

You can grab your copy of the Uptown/Downtown Dress pattern including the expansion pack here.  And even better than that until Saturday you can get 25% off with the coupon code UPTOWNEXPANSION25, or you can try your luck and enter the giveaway below :-)
a Rafflecopter giveaway