The Avalie Top & Dress: Release & Tester Round Up

A new pattern has made its way to PSCo! I don’t know about you, but I love versatility and this one delivers! Meet the Avalie top & dress!

Avalie is an exquisite combination of both beauty and comfort. The airy design combined with the clean, crisp feeling of woven fabric (or your favorite buttery knit) will leave you feeling indulged. Avalie creates a striking silhouette with a slightly fitted waist that is beautifully contrasted by flowing sleeves. A shirred waistband in the back bodice provides extra comfort and dressing ease. Back waist ties add interest, while the skirt options provide greater versatility and make Avalie the perfect choice for all occasions!

This versatile pattern lends itself well to both wovens and knits! Our fabulous testers used quite a variety of fabrics for their garments!

Before we take a look, let’s talk about how different fabrics will affect the fit. A garment made in a stretchy fabric is going to fit and hang more loosely than a garment made in a fabric with less or no stretch. For example, a rayon spandex knit is going to fit more loosely than a rayon woven.

Other factors to consider are the weight and drape of a fabric. Drape refers to how the fabric hangs on the body. A heavy fabric like wool will be more structured and stiff, lending itself best to more tailored garments, whereas a light weight chiffon will be very flowy and lay close to the body. There are also fabrics that fall in the middle that provide some structure but still drape well, like a cotton jersey knit.

Let’s look a little closer at fabric drape and some examples in each of these three categories.

• Low Drape: does not lay close to the body, hangs with large folds, stiff, provides structure, does not hold gathers well

  Ex. denim, corduroy, wool, gabardine, quilting cotton

• Moderate Drape: provides versatility with both structure and drape

  Ex. linen, cotton jersey knits, cotton lawn & voile, double gauze, scuba, chambray, french terry, cotton modal, tri-blend, ponte, liverpool

• High (Fluid) Drape: lays close to the body, hangs with small folds, fluid and flowy, gathers very well

  Ex. rayon, bamboo, silk, chiffon, georgette, crepe, satin, charmeuse, double brushed poly, modal, ITY

Each of the fabrics will also vary in levels of drape within each category. For example, in the moderate category, a cotton jersey will usually have more drape than scuba. I hope this helps you when selecting fabrics for your next project.

For Avalie in particular, choose lighter weight fabrics with high-moderate to high drape, such as rayon, handkerchief linen, tencel, crepe, stable ribs, and double brushed poly. When choosing knits, be sure to select fabrics with excellent recovery. 

As always, it is best practice to sew a muslin when making a pattern for the first time or using a different fabric base before using your good fabrics. The muslin should be made in a fabric similar to the final garment for the most accurate representation. Keep in mind that it may be necessary to make size adjustments if the fabric has a lot of stretch.

Now, let’s look at the many fabric bases our talented testers chose to use when sewing the Avalie Top & Dress Pattern.

As always, we could not make these fabulous patterns without the help of our amazing tester team! We are so grateful for all their help making our visions come to life. 

Let's take a look at all their gorgeous Avalie Tops & Dresses!