Tuesday 18 November: Amanda.Stitches is both today’s podcast guest and guest editor on SewOver50

Her standout roberts.woods drafters grid dress at Perth Frocktails this year took our breath away and we had to invite Amanda to tell us all about this dress.

As Amanda said ‘the #draftersgriddress has been many months in the making, planning started early this year with the sourcing of vintage tablecloths – not just any cloths, but ones that had similar pink tones & were the same shade of white. Several were ordered online, only to find when they arrived they weren’t suitable – I’ve got a few set aside for future projects.

From the 6 tablecloths I cut 172!! pattern pieces – ordinarily the multiple identical pieces can be cut in bulk – however I couldn’t do this without compromising the placement of the embroidery – many hours of planning, pinning & checking before I started to cut.  Quilters will be familiar with fussy-cutting and there was certainly lots of that. The construction & sewing of the dress isn’t difficult, & I enjoyed the slow sew & watching my vision come to life.

I chose to add elastic at the waistband (instructions are included in the tutorial), to give me some much needed shape, and also added pockets, using matching vintage serviettes. The skirt is lined with a heavy cotton backed satin from @spotlightstores. 

I paired the dress with a cute little crop Smitten jacket from @patternemporium_kate using the leftover contrast linen fabric from my 2024 Perth Frocktails dress and had enough scraps amongst the tablecloths to cover the buttons in embroidery & line the yoke.’

We now know Amanda was awarded two first places at the Ag Show;

Her Smitten jacket was first in its class!

Amanda’s drafter’s grid dress was also awarded first in its class (made with recycled fabric) and was the Most Outstanding Exhibit in the Needlework section!! (Includes hand sewing, quilting, crochet, tapestry, cross stitch etc!!).

As Amanda said ‘There are lots of very talented people & beautiful items so I feel humbled to have my dress win!’