When my sister and I made our blouses, we immediately got the idea to lengthen the pattern and make dresses. Quite some time ago, I posted about the green dress I made using this pattern. This is the dress my sister made at the same time. This dress has some interesting design choices that make it unique.
First off, this dress is made of cotton poplin. The shape of the dress is the same as the blouse, as it’s simply following the pattern. The difference is that it’s lengthened so it’s a knee-length dress. For the ruffle collar, instead of fabric, it’s made of wide eyelet lace. Then at the neckline, a ribbon gathers it into the ruffle.
For this look, she chose the short sleeves. They have gathered cuffs with elastic, and they’re trimmed with a piece of the same eyelet lace used for the collar. The long skirt is also trimmed with the same lace. A fabric belt adds an extra touch over the elastic gathered waist.
The belt has a bow and hook and eye fasteners to close in the back.
The bow pieces are finished with the same narrow overlock stitch edging as several other projects.
Now here’s the interesting part of this dress. It doesn’t have just one sleeve option; it also has long sleeves!
What’s the secret to multiple sleeve options? Instead of sewing the sleeves to the bodice, my sister finished the sleeve edges and sewed bias tape to the neckline edge as an elastic casing.
She finished the bodice edges with facings, then sewed snaps onto the facings and the sleeve edges.
And since the bodice is finished with facings, that allows for another option: no sleeves!
It really was an ingenious idea. It was a little unfortunate that the fit of the sleeves wasn’t quite as good as we’d hoped. Also, the snaps inside the facings end up directly touching skin, which can be a little uncomfortable.
One dress, three styles. Which one is your favorite? I think my favorite is the one with the long sleeves.
