I can’t remember where I first saw this pattern, but I did think it would be quite flattering and would be useful for a bit of stashbusting as it uses a relatively small amount of fabric.

The dress is a quick make, but those tucks have to be carefully traced on to the fabric. I tend to use a modified tailor’s tack – I use a long running stitch which I clip (see bottom two rows on the top below. There are also a number of darts for which I used regular tailor’s tacks. Of course if I was more organised I would have used different colours for these two types of markings, but I managed not to get too confused!

A couple of my tucks are a bit frilly and that’s because I misread (er, didn’t read!) the instructions and had to do some unpicking and stretched the fabric a bit in the process. I consider this dress a bit of a trial run, so don’t really mind too much.

The only “pressure point” – to use a cooking term – is matching all those tucks along the sides. This was a fiddle, but I managed it pretty well in the end.

I used a remnant (naturally!) that I bought at Knitwit. I bought three pieces the same (why??) and this is the second piece that I’ve used. My first use was this Coco, and I’m not sure what I’ll do with the third piece.

The pattern also is either sleeveless or short sleeved and I decided to make it long sleeved. Then my fabric wasn’t quite long enough so I added cuffs. They were supposed to be doubled over, but I decided that the sleeves would still be too short, so I have long cuffs.

Next time I might do something different with the hem. It’s supposed to be deeper but I decided that the dress would be too short.

Review of Butterick 5559

This is a close-fitting, above mid-knee pullover dress. It has front and back darts and tucks. It is designed for moderate stretch knits (I’m not sure that I had quite enough stretch, so went two sizes bigger than I would normally use.

It is an easy make, but requires a fair amount of preparation in marking out the tucks. The instructions are good to follow, but they don’t mention that the tucks on the front and back waistline should be completed after the bodice and skirt are joined together. Making good side joins on the tucks can take a bit of time if care isn’t taken in the initial preparation.

The dress is supposed to have facings at the neck, and in the sleeveless version, but I hate facings, so I used binding.

It is a really comfortable dress to wear and I will be making another one when I find some suitable fabric. Highly recommended.

I got home from work the other night to find that Mark had made me a present. I had shown him a bamboo point turner in a shop in Stockholm and he made me a beautiful one from Huon Pine. Huon Pine is a rare timber native to Tasmania. It is full of natural oil and has traditionally been used in boat building. Archie and Tom make brilliant rolling pins from it.  Logging of Huon Pine is prohibited and licensed collectors are allowed to salvage fallen logs, often out of rivers and lakes. It is massively expensive and this is from an offcut from one of Archie’s makes. Once again I wish that there was some sort of virtual tactile experience I could give you – this is a silky smooth item, and the more it gets rubbed the smoother and silkier it will become.

I am now at the airport waiting to go to Ballarat, so no sewing this week!