Autumn in a dress

I've made two versions of this dress (so far), and it's based on the Cotton and Chalk Rosie dress pattern, which I got free with Simply Sewing magazine a few years ago.  

 

 

  

 

 

I really liked View A (View B is sleeveless), and you can see from the line drawing below that it has a centre front seam (the buttons on the blue dress are not functioning), and the bust is shaped with gathers at the shoulder and under the bust.  On the pattern envelope the neckline looks like it's slightly curved, similar to a sweetheart neckline, but it is a V neckline on the line drawing.  The midriff yoke is only on the front,  the back is shaped with darts, and it closes with a centre back zip.

 

I wanted to change a few details, so drafted the bodice from my block.  I added a functioning button placket at the centre front, did a slightly curved sweetheart neckline, and extended the midriff yoke across the back.  For the skirt I used the pieces from the pattern, which are rectangles gathered at the waist, and added pockets.  

 

 

Below is the second one I made, and the amazing fabric is a viscose I bought from lovely Andrea at Pink Door.  There are no words to describe how much I love this dress, and it has already got lots of wear.   The sleeves on this one are the same as the sleeves on my Halloween dress.

 

 

My first version was made with some Lady McElroy polyester crepe, the print is called Chaffinch Bough.  On this one I gathered the sleeves with elastic like the sleeves on the pattern.  And I've been wearing this one a lot too.

   

 

I can't find the original pattern to buy on-line other than on ebay (that could be my poor googling), but here are a few patterns I found that are similar.

McCall's 7974

 

Vogue 9076

Vogue 8577

 

I've made two self-drafted dresses based on Vogue 8577, but more of that in another post.

 

Happy sewing,

Lynne