Super comfy jersey dress: No pattern needed!

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Helloooo! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my last post. Yeah, I should be ashamed. But I’ve been working hard, both at my job and at my creative space at home. I try and make several little projects at the moment that are not blog post-worthy yet. And I’ve been knitting. A lot. I finished a scarf, a beanie, one mitten and am now working on the second one.

Last weekend I decided to make something without a pattern. I had this very cool cotton jersey I scored at the fabric swap in August, so again a didn’t-cost-me-a-penny-dress.

It’s a super simple cut, only three seams and a simple hem. Some facing at the neckline and you’re done.

I wanted a simple, elegant cut and decided to use one of my old shirts as a template.
The shirt had batwing sleeves which I really liked. But apart from the sleeves, the fit was horrible:

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comSo before starting on the actual dress, I did a five minute refashion on this old shirt.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI took another shirt that fits me well and used it to mark the lines of the side seams with chalk, keeping the batwing sleeves.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI cut only one side and used the chopped off piece as a template for the other side.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comChop, chop! I sewed the side seams and ….done!

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comMuch better, don’t you think?no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI placed the shirt on top of my spread out fabric and basically just cut around it. The sleeves were in two pieces, the shoulder seam ends somewhere mid upper arm.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI folded the cut out front panel in half to make sure everything was symmetrical.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comPinned onto the dressform to figure out the neckline. Chop, chop!

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI just used the front panel to cut out the back, making sure all the lines matched up.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comFor the sleeves I used two rectangular pieces and cut on fold using the shirt’s sleeves as template.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comAfter figuring out and cutting the neckline, I cut out and sewed the facing for the neckline.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comno pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comNext, sewing the shoulder seams together. Then sewing the neckline facing onto the dress.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comAdding the sleeves (this version still had the full-length sleeves, but I decided to shorten them during the process).no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comno pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Whirr!

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comHere the (final) version with shorter sleeves. Next, sewing the side seams – one long seam starting at the sleeves all the way down to the hem of the dress (no setting in of sleeves – yay!).

Finally, I shortened the hem – oooops – a bit too much. That’s why I decided to add another strip of fabric to the hem ( I had no other option). Since I had nothing of the jersey fabric left, I used a satin silk in a similar colour, which I also had brought home from the fabric swap. (Yeah, I forgot to take pictures of this step…)

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

To make the look more consistent, I also added some of the satin silk to the sleeves, as binding.

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

By the way, as I still don’t have an overlocker, I used my overlocker foot, a jersey needle and my stretch stitch setting and sewed and finished the seams in one step:

no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comno pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

I love the batwing sleeves. They make the cut of the dress looks much more elegant and give you the hourglass shape pear-shaped ladies (like me) love.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.comI wore the dress twice already, once on the plane while flying to Berlin last weekend. It’s super comfy and I can see it becoming one of my favourite dresses.no pattern jersey dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Dress #16 of my 27 Dresses Challenge – done!

Happy Sewing!
β™₯

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14 thoughts on “Super comfy jersey dress: No pattern needed!

  1. I can’t tell you how much I love this dress!!! Where did you get that fabric? It is amazing! I love easy comfy dresses like that — Might have to go sew one up for myself tonight!

    1. Thanks Cari! Unfortunately, I have no idea where the fabric was bought. It’s a lovely soft cotton jersey I got at a fabric swap.

  2. This dress kicks ass! Also, the boots are fab:) I’m like an upside down pear…all chest and no hips. I’d love to be a regular pear!!

    Is it the same concept matching plaids? I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s an easy way:)

    Again, love this dress! And your last skirt refashion is getting billions of pins btw.

    1. Thank you lovely! Matching plaids was much easier with this dress (compared to the jacket) as the plaids where really big. I wasn’t too meticulous, I have to admit. Thanks for pinning the refashion!!

  3. Wow, this looks amazing! The fabric and style of the dress fit perfectly to each other. And without a pattern, I am impressed. I am just working on a jersey dress as well, one with a pattern, but somehow it didn’t turn out that great. Hopefully, I will manage to put up a post soon and maybe you can give me some advice then πŸ™‚

  4. It’s awesome! I want one just like it πŸ™‚ I’ve had some poor luck with this method with adult clothes- I probably need more practice!

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