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