Dress 106

There are two ladies who walk in my neighborhood every morning, rain, shine or pandemic. They are sweethearts and we usually end up chatting when we meet. One of these ladies usually wears what I think of as a "house dress." They're comfortable, cotton dresses that zip up the front. They look like just what you'd want to wear to power walk, or putz in the garden or bustle around your house. Not fluffy, not precious. Practical.

I want some. And here's what I've come up with so far.

This is based on dress 106 from the March, 2020 Burdastyle. They describe it as having a full-length zip in front and suggest that it will work well for women who don't want their dresses to be too girlish. Looking at the picture now, I'm realizing it's a bit mini on the model. Which would explain why I had to take a super narrow hem to keep the length at my knees. I'm five foot two (eyes of blue) so I'm not used to having to worry about skirts making up too short.

The zip isn't really full-length, as in "down to the hem," though the line drawing suggests that it is. The directions call for a 20 inch zip, which is fine. Long enough so I can get in and out with no trouble, but not so long that I'd have to worry about the zip splitting when I'm kneeling down to plant potatoes.

I had actually planned to keep the sleeves, but to shorten them to a sort of above-elbow length. The design for the sleeve was kind of cute; there was a dart at the shoulder like I've seen in some raglan tops. I thought that might give a nice fit. Sadly, I could not get those things inserted smoothly. Even after a few diligent tries. I even basted. So I decided to go sleeveless. I finished the armscye with bias tape and called it a day.

The other change I made was to redraft the round neck to a v-neck. That part worked out OK, so I'm kind of chuffed. I even remembered to draw in the new neckline with a slight curve rather than using a straight line. Suzy Furrer recommended that in a Blueprint class I took on pattern drafting.

The pattern includes instructions for making a wide fabric belt to shape my waist "softly." Which it kind of does. I think I like that part and it was pretty easy to make up. Without the belt the dress is pretty shift-like, so it can do with some shape. But I might leave the belt off while I'm digging potatoes.

All in all, I think I like the dress pretty well. It's not my dream housedress, but it will do until that one comes along.

My pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.