Here I am, back posing in the garden. At least now the garden has a floral theme right? This fabric caught my eye leaving a local (sadly closing down) fabric shop. I very nearly made it out the door with just what I went in for. Nearly. But it was so pretty, and I kept seeing fabulous dresses all over Pinterest, and it was 25 % off the sale price…what could I do?
I chose Simplicity 8014 for my first foray into Shirt dressing, and I’m pretty happy with it.
I made view D, but with view C hem. Well that was the plan. I actually got thoroughly confused and cut the hem for D, which meant when I tried to straighten it up, I ended up with a hem shorter than I intended (I generally consider my knees are for private consumption only) oh well! I chose not to add the pockets , I never actually put anything in them and feel like my hips are one area that probably does not need any additional fabric.
As I did with my Fielder dress I enlarged the sleeve for a comfortable fit, oh the thrill of being to raise my arms easily , often an issue for me with RTW shirts and dresses. I really like the faux cuff detail which I will use again .
The one thing I wasn’t so thrilled with was the fit at the back, the gathers were fine, but I ended up with a balloon of fabric underneath. No doubt this would be gathered in with the belt, but I felt the dress looked better on me without the belt.
The collar and pockets were fine, the instructions clear and it all came together well. Because the fabric is so busy I chose not to use a contrasting topstich colour, does make for a slightly easier life. It looks mostly like the one on the packet!
My next project is an extension of the Harrison shirt, I’m hoping the princess seaming will eliminate the bagging effect at the back. I’m going to add similar sleeves to this one though, I wish I could just throw caution to the wind and go sleeveless but I really feel more comfortable with upper arm coverage. Am I obsessed with sleeves??
Have you made a shirt dress? Any tips and tricks gratefully received!
Kristina xxx
Plum Kitchen 
I love your shirt dress! I just finished the Harrison shirt (finally! I did 2 muslins first) in silk. It turned out pretty nice! I have the shirt dress add-on for the Harrison too so that’s my next project. I’m excited about making shirt dresses too 🙂 I used to love wearing them (back in the late ’60’s!) and now I’m excited to make them to finally fit me too 🙂 That will be a joy. Yours is a great fit – I don’t know why that pop out of fabric in the back. Almost like it doesn’t really need that gathering?
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Thank you so much! I’m super impressed making a silk shirt, wow! I’m not brave enough to tackle silk yet😣
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I know this is a old make but it interests me as I just ordered the pattern plus the Closet Close Kellie shirt dress.. Love your dress and you look great in it.. what I believe is you need to do a sway back adjustment.. pinch out the excess fabric in the middle of your back to hardly anything at your side.. both side.. There some great YouTube videos on it or better still.. look at the Peggy Sager/Sahar videos of fitting.. she is the creator of Silloutte patterns… she makes it all look so easy… x
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Thanks! Yes I have heard of Peggy Sager, I am on holiday soon so going to spend some time checking out You Tube, its so helpful!
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