I drafted a few patterns over the summer on the Morley College course based on the Pattern Magic: Stretch Fabrics book, this design included. To be perfectly honest, the photos in the book do absolutely nothing for me, so I flipped right past it when reading it on my own:
But the instructor, Moni, saw its potential, and thought that it might be nice in a softer jersey. She was totally right! The sample that was made on the course in similar, lightweight jersey had a chic cowl effect, but without a low neck like you normally get to achieve a cowl.
So I’d been meaning to make this all year, but finally unearthed my pattern pieces on Christmas Eve day, when I fancied sewing something quick that wasn’t workout gear for a change!
The pattern here is essentially just a long teeshirt dress, but with an added very wide (180 degrees!) dart that runs from shoulder to abdomen. It means that it’s a bit of a pain to draft, but extremely quick and easy to sew. On the course, I’d thought ahead and brought my own knit sloper so not only did I draft this to my body (at the time, anyway), but I also kept the armscye unchanged here so I could easily add sleeves!
The cowl looks really good, too, and has the advantage of being in an unusual place:
I much prefer it with the “point” pushed in like a cowl, but here it is being pulled out, and then left out, so you can see how it looks that way.
I think the cowl looks very chic, and it feels great to wear (especially since I gave it extra-long sleeves!). I could’ve added some darts to the back, but I felt it’d be kinda weird to have a closely-fitted back with such a voluminous front, and I quite like the way it forms a bit of a blouson about the fitted hips.
In case you were wondering, my Robot tights are from Wolford, and yes, those actually are little metal rivets attached to them!!
All in, this took me only an hour or two to sew, and less than the 2m of navy blue viscose lycra jersey I’d bought on Goldhawk Road, so this dress cost me a grand total of £7.98! Very enjoyable and satisfying sewing, and I got lots of compliments wearing it to Christmas dinner.