I feel like I've been wearing the same little summer dresses over and over and over. Not that there's anything wrong with that! because I like them all :) but a few of my standbys are getting on their last legs and the wardrobe needed new blood. And there's still a lot of summer to go.
I've been eyeing off dress E from the Stylish Dress book by Yoshiko Tsukiori ever since I got the book, in fact it was my Sew Bossy dress of choice for Reana Louise! I loved hers and alway wanted to make one for myself too... one day. The book is chokka with patterns for cute and practical little summer dresses that are absolutely perfect for our hot Australian summers, and this pattern is yet another goodie although I ended up making quite a few little changes. Some due to my fabric; a red/cream cotton gingham with a very slightly crinkly, seersucker-y texture, from Spotlight.The front of dress F has five box pleats in the bodice and I was determined for the gingham pattern to match perfectly on the front.
Please excuse and/or feel free to skip the following; where I boast obnoxiously about my perfect pattern matching. Yes, there are five box pleats up there *insert smug self back-patting*
It's not hard to work out how to do this, the only criteria is that the front fits onto the front facing piece once pleated. A little quality time with the tape measure and some mental calculations to exercise the ol' brain cells a bit. Each box pleat is 6 checks wide, with 4 checks in between each one and it turned out that the overall width of my front piece is slightly narrower than the pattern piece.
I've made a cool and breezy, simple and uncomplicated little summer dress. I love it already :)
this one made me laugh... hmm; terrific maternity dress!
Dress; dress E from the Stylish Dress book by Yoshiki Tsukiori, red cotton gingham
Thongs; Havaianas
