Gemma’s Axis Dress!

Hi everyone, I’m back on the blog today talking about my Papercut Patterns Axis dress. 

I made this in the “sweet pea” cotton which is sadly sold out on the Felicity Fabrics website now, but you could use any of the other cottons, or a light-medium weight fabric as recommended. 

I’ve had the Axis dress pattern for absolutely ages – I actually purchased it from the Knitting and Stitching show back in 2019, and it’s sat in my stash ever since. I think it’s actually the first Papercut pattern I’ve made so far. 

I did find the instructions a little frustrating at times, as they’re a bit sparser than a lot of other pattern companies. I also didn’t like how the instructions are on the pattern paper. Now I know they are meant to be cut up into a small booklet, but that’s just extra work! Maybe this has changed since as I think the packaging has been updated.

 

The pattern states that it is for a “skilled” dressmaker so I’d say this is around medium difficulty. I probably would agree just for the fact that the instructions are a little tricky to follow in places, but actually, the garment itself isn’t too hard to put together. 

I made a size 4 in the bodice, graded to a 6 at the hip. My measurements are: Bust: 37, Waist: 31 and Hip: 31. 

I feel like the fit is good, but I found that it was tight on the hips when sitting down. I found that if I just pull the skirt up a little when I sit down, then it is still a very wearable dress. 

I ended up sewing the front slit a little further down than recommended as I felt like it would show a little too much leg – I only sewed an extra 3cm, which is barely anything, but it makes me feel more comfortable. 

I also omitted the side slit in the bodice where you pass the tie through – I read a blog post about this and it said that if you want to wear the dress in different ways, then you would see the opening at times which isn’t ideal. 

If you refer to the photos, you can see that I’ve tied it in a couple of different ways which I really like. I think there is probably even more you can do with the dress if you play around with it. 

I had a hard time inserting the invisible zip – I think I unpicked it five times! But that was down to me really, not the pattern or the fabric. 

The cotton was lovely to work with and as you’d expect, it pressed well and did everything I needed it to. It does crease when worn but this is normal for cotton fabrics. I actually love working with cotton as it’s just so easy. I think this dress works really well in cotton too. 

The pattern recommends 2.55m of fabric for all sizes – I definitely needed the length of fabric for all the pieces but I do have some fabric left over width wise (if that makes sense!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog and that it’s inspired you to try the Axis dress – it’s a really versatile piece to have in your wardrobe and you can make just the skirt from the pattern too. I also forgot to mention that there are two skirt options you can choose from – a pencil skirt or A-line. 

Take care and until next time, happy sewing!

Gemma (@thedalythread) x