Whether you watch Project Runway or do a Google search for free sewing patterns you will soon enough run into Mood Fabrics. They are super well known for their giant fabric store in NYC but also for their hundreds of free sewing patterns that are downloadable from their online blog. Finding these patterns as a sewer is like landing on a gold mine. I’ve been following Mood for over a year now and have finally decided to take a stab at one of their patterns - The Mallow Dress. I found the dress however, through a search for loungewear and decided to edit the pattern. Here’s my full review!

CUTTING THE PATTERN

I decided to cut a size 4 because I wanted to make sure it was comfortable and loose. I’ve cut PDF patterns before and I’ve had good experiences because the way in which you align the pattern pages was always very clear. Well, to be honest.. this pattern wasn’t so clear to me. I couldn’t get connecting lines from page to page to be the right length and although it had guidelines in the middle for reassurance, even lining those up resulted in other lines being uneven. Regardless, I played with it some and decided that even if I was off, I was only a tiny bit off, and just hoped it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.

PIECING THE PATTERN TOGETHER, EDITING AND CHOOSING FABRIC

Okay, so I opted to only use only the top of the dress pattern and elongate it by 10” as suggested to make it into a comfy t-shirt dress. I loved the idea of just throwing on a comfy, flowy dress that wasn’t too tight and perfect for fall Florida weather. I went to Joann’s and bought a medium to heavy weight (not really sure and the label doesn’t specify) rib knit fabric that I thought was the perfect shade of green for fall!

ALIGNING THE SIDE SEAMS AND SHOULDERS PLUS ALTERING THE NECKLINE

Once I had the pdf pattern all taped together I stepped back and took a look at everything and thought… something looks.. off. I know from school that the side seams are always supposed to align as well as the shoulders. those are the two most important areas, so I checked those and they did but the back armhole came down so much. I know the back armhole is usually larger than the front to accommodate our bodies but it went low, and it cut into the side seam a little which I thought was weird. I immediately took to the comments to see if anyone else was experiencing the same unsureness. What I found instead was a lot of people commenting on the neckline! A few sewists were saying the neckline is fine until you get to sizes 4 and below. Of course! The neckline became super small and people weren’t even able to get their heads through it! Yikes. I made a sample of just the top half to see what all the commotion was about and the neckline was tight, it wasn’t too bad and being the fabric was a stretch fabric I could definitely get my head through it. Even so, I decided to drop the neckline 1/2” all the way around and was please with the fit after that.

COMPARING THE FRONT AND THE BACK

The last thing I noticed which really threw me off the most, was how much wider the front pattern piece was from the back. The back was sooo much thinner than the front. I thought this was so odd because I knew that was just going to pull the fabric and make the side seam flow towards the back instead of along the side of my body. I like to get a second opinions from people who are more knowledgeable from me and I didn’t want to waste too much time creating a new back pattern so I took to my WONDERFUL facebook sewing group. Let me tell you these ladies came through!! They assured me that I wasn’t going crazy and the back looked super off. I got a couple suggestions on how to move forward and I decided to just use the front pattern piece for everything! I kept the back neckline so it stayed higher than the front, and I really wanted to keep the armhole but I just didn’t have the time. So I kept it moving and just said to myself, “we’re wingin’ it!”

ACTUALLY SEWING THE DRESS

This is such an easy make and one of the reasons I wanted to make this was because I knew it would only take me a couple of hours and I could make a couple in different colors. This really was simple especially because you’re essentially only attaching the side seams and the shoulders. I chose not to hem the bottom and I did hem the neckline but it honestly still looked good if you left it raw. The only thing I had trouble with was the sleeve cuff. The images on the website were confusing to me and there were no written directions so I had to just figure it out! I decided to fold the pieces right sides together and sew along the short edge, then I flipped it right side out and folded it longways. I honestly don’t know if this is correct but it fit into my armhole so I went with it!

IN CONCLUSION

I’ve read from others that these problems can be common when you’re using a pattern you didn’t have to pay for. And with a huge company like Mood, I would understand if not every size available was tested. The best advice I read about Mood patterns was to trust your gut and use your own sewing knowledge to make the pattern work. Sometimes trusting the pattern or following the directions step by step will lead you into a disaster - so trust your own instincts! And most importantly, have fun with it! What I love about sewing a pattern that’s going to be just for me is I can play with it however I want and alter it in anyway. If I like it in the end than that’s all that matters.

Check out how I styled this dress over on my Instagram and happy sewing!

Making the Mallow Dress by Mood Fabrics