Blue rose print Gertie dress

When the latest Cath Kidston catalogue landed on my doormat recently, I was immediately inspired by their colour palette of blue and white floral prints, and got straight on the hunt for some blue roses from Minerva to make my own dress.  They had exactly what I was looking for – a bold and beautiful rose print stretch cotton sateen.  When, a few weeks later, my copy of Love Sewing arrived, I couldn’t help noticing that one of the illustrations on the pattern envelope that came free with the magazine was also a blue floral print!

Mood Board Inspiration

I don’t know about you, but I always associate rose prints with Gertie, so I chose my ideal pattern of hers for this print: the Surplice dress from the book ‘Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book’.  I have made this dress before as a Minerva project (using a mini octopus print!), and I really like the bodice style, so I knew it was going to be a winning combination.

I was able to make the dress in just one day, which was very pleasing, and I wore it the next day to the Sew Up North meet up in Leeds which was great fun!  So lovely to see old friends, meet new friends, and treat myself to a few lengths of fabric!

My sewing pins which I wore to Sew Up North!

Minerva provided the fabric, zip and thread for this dress, and I provided the interfacing, the pattern and the sewing 🙂  I’m so in love with this dress – I think it’s beautiful.  You can read more about its construction over on the Minerva site, where there are more photos too.

Bye for now!