This blog post was written for the Sewloco blog, so go check it out there too if you fancy!
I am very late to the Deer and Doe party. Their Hoya blouse, Mélilot shirt and chums were cropping up on my Instagram feed throughout 2017 and it was time I joined the fun. I played it fairly safe and went for the Zéphyr dress. It’s a knit skater dress with princess seams, so my hope was that it would be super girly and fitted but also comfy a.f., and it definitely fulfilled these hopes. This pattern is given a level 2 (1 being absolute beginner) and it really is perfect for those who are new to sewing and want to try a garment with stretch fabric. Princess seams could potentially be a bit daunting for beginners but these just glided together, and it was one of those makes that comes together really quickly once it’s cut.
I made a wearable toile of the dress using grey jersey; the only alteration I made to the pattern was to add 4cm to the bodice length, other than that it was a ‘straight from the pack’ size 38:
As you can see from the low-sitting waistline I went a bit overboard with adding bodice length so for the ‘real’ version I took half a centimetre off, but otherwise I was really happy with the fit.
I used navy polka dot jersey from Sewloco which is super soft and so satisfyingly s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y (the pattern requires 40% stretch). I decided to add pockets and to lengthen the skirt by 12.5cm to hopefully create a more retro-inspired look with the polka dot fabric, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out!
…arr there was a feather on my bum!
This dress is a proper secret PJs dress and it ticks all the boxes:
Comfy ✓
Quick to make (perfect for the impatient sewist!) ✓
Practical ✓
Versatile ✓
It can also be made as separates, so I’ll no doubt be making more of these as soon as Spring is on its way!
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