Am so happy at how you are all loving the newly released Milicent Dress! Today I’m sharing a version of it I made for myself and I’ll be back with all the info on how to hack the original pattern to this version.
All summer I kept seeing tie shoulder dresses with lower tier ruffles and thinking they looked so cute and perfect for the hot weather. Then one day it struck me that I could totally make the Milicent look like that. Here are a selection from Gorman and Obus that caught my eye.
I took my own copy, played around with the pattern a bit and hey presto cute summer dress version 2!
The fabric is a digital printed cotton linen from Nerida Hansen / Hansen Print Textiles. It’s been in the stash for about 18 months or more. Originally I was so excited as I loved the print but them when it arrived I was thoroughly underwhelmed with the print quality and how heavy and stiff the fabric felt. I honestly thought I was going to have to use it for endless amounts of bag making!
Washed it a few times, tried to make it feel softer it did by a very tiny amount. Disappointed I put it in the stash. I got it out when I was thinking of this variation and thought it’s going to hang stiffer and the ruffle is going to be way more noticeable making me look like a giant obnoxious cupcake but hey sometimes looking like an enormous cupcake is preferable to a fabric wallowing in the stash.
Sewing wise it sewed ok, quite stiff and stable but frayed unbelievably badly. I even overlocked some seams that were going to be enclosed by plackets it frayed so much and I was worried that with wear it would come apart.
Despite the less than stellar fabric I do really like how it has come together and I think I will get a lot of wear out of it. A friend suggested wearing it with a t-shirt under it for the winter and I think that could totally work.
Don’t forget to come back when I explain all the details on how to hack your pattern to make this version
Pattern: modified version of the Milicent dress by Measure Twice Cut Once
Fabric: Digital printed linen cotton by Hansen Print Textiles
Alterations: ruffles, tie shoulder straps
My goal was for a dress I could pull on over my head, was roomy enough to aid airflow but still looked decent in case I was leaving the house to go to the supermarket or post office. Hunting through my stash I found some Nerida Hansen remnants I had picked up at a Finders Keepers market back when we could meet in person. Each remnant was a slightly odd size so I had to plan out how I was going to cut it out to make it work. In the end I cut the top from one section and then used part of the rest of that panel and another panel to make the skirt. I didn’t even have enough fabric left to make pockets.
The fabric itself is lovely to wear, nice and cool and relatively wrinkle free, sewing it was less fun. The print is a digital print so every needle and pin mark showed up. I sewed it using a Microtex needle and even at a 70 needle you had to be careful not to show up the needle marks. I used my overlocker to finish the seams and you can see the marks there. Which fine is ok for a remnant but very disappointing that the quality of the fabric is so fragile for what is essentially an every day fabric.
I love the knicker shape it’s super cute and a great use of lace. However I don’t love how the crotch gusset is smaller than the outer knicker panel along the sides. Unless your sewing is super precise it’s so easy to miss a bit when you are stitching it down. Honestly I’ll just be cutting it wider in the future to make the sewing more enjoyable and less fraught with worry that it won’t be caught in correctly.
The Emma I have made multiple times before but this is the first time I’ve added the lace to the lower hem. For myself I don’t do it as I’m so short it just folds up but this one is for someone else and it looks so cute I think I want to try a narrower lace version for myself. Sewing on the FOE was a dream as this one is so lush and thick it’s like an elastic ribbon it’s so satiny. Absolutely gorgeous.
All in all it was a wonderful set to sew and I hope the person I made it for will love it too!
Now to send them off and fingers crossed they fit!
See the frosted window behind my machines, that overlooks our rooftop, normally a sunshine filled, tree lined vista…its currently being ripped apart for construction work to replace rotten woodwork and replacement of the waterproof membrane. Mostly it’s messy and noisy which is fine the work has to be done, but it is leaving a fine smattering of dust all over my machines.
