Another Doris Dress

Hi there! After walking about in full-blown winter wardrobe for about two weeks now I’m mourning all my summer dresses I won’t be able to wear in the next few months. One of them is this cute red Doris Dress (by Sew Over It) I made this summer and took on our road trip to France.

I intentionally chose a colour that would also be great for autumn and I’m planning on wearing this dress with tights and boots and layered jumpers before winter really hits.

pattern: The Doris Dress (Sew Over It), Version 1 (size 10 graded to 12 below hips)
fabric: lightweight cotton viscose from a tiny sewing shop in Sweden
amount: 2,20m non-directional print
cost: bundle price per kg, less than 10€ (+ zip from my stash & handmade self-covered buttons)
duration: ~5 hr (incl. cutting out)

As you know, if you’ve been following this blog a while, I’m a huge fan of Sew Over It patterns. The Doris Dress was one of my favourites last year and the first version I made had lots of outings to weddings and summer parties. I immediately set out to make another one after last years trip to Sweden. It sat on my desk with just the zip left to put in for half a year and I finished it just before our holiday in August.

The fabric is a floral viscose I bought in Sweden last year, in a tiny shop that sold fabrics per kilogram! Viscose is the perfect fabric for this dress in my opinion. The way the skirt panels are cut works best with drapey fabrics. I used a bit over 2 metres, cutting out a UK size 10/12. I did not make any changes to the pattern, except that I cheated a bit and made a fake button placket. Since the dress has a invisible side zip put in, there really is no need to insert buttonholes, at least for size 10/12. I’d be curious, does this work for all sizes?

Anyway, it’s obviously way faster to construct if you just sew on decorative buttons. I made self-covered ones again as I could not find any buttons that worked with the style of the dress and fabric. If you look closely you can see I used the blue/purple flower print from the fabric to place on the 20mm buttons.

Just as I did with the other one, I love this dress to bits! It’s beautifully femine, classic and works for almost any occasion. I’m also a really big fan of viscose fabrics, especially for your summer holiday wardrobe. The fabrics are really lightweight, a cotton-blend is perfect for hot summer days. Viscose does crease quite easily but I also find that the creases go away without pressing just by hanging it in a moist bathroom (hang it in there while you shower!) or when you spray it with a diffuser water bottle and hang it up to dry.

To be able to wear these lovely viscose dresses over tights, I will have to make a few more slip dresses or skirts to help with the static. I only have one so far, which does not work with all my dresses. Do you have any pattern or fabric recommendations for slip dresses?

xx

Charlie

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Happy sewing!
♥

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