Seamwork Bobby Dress Pattern Review

In my continuing quest to use up my fabric stash, the piece I've used for today's project is one that had been causing me a bit of a headache. It's a lovely turquoise blue jersey, and I had plenty of it, but it never seemed to be quite right for any of the patterns I wanted to make. That was until Seamwork released the Bobby dress, and I knew it was the answer that I'd been searching for.

Bobby is an easy-to-wear knit dress with a lined bodice, nicely shaped V-neck, A-line skirt and wide elastic casing at the waistband. And pockets - hooray for pockets!

This previously problematic jersey is a Robert Kaufman Laguna jersey, which I bought a couple of years ago from a shop that has since closed. It's a lovely quality, but it is slightly lighter weight than most other cotton jerseys I've used. I knew I wanted to use it for a dress, but the jersey dress patterns that I like tend to have fitted bodices and the Laguna jersey seemed like it would be too thin for them. The fact that the bodice of the Bobby is lined and therefore you have a double layer of the fabric meant that it would be reinforced so it would be a much better weight for a mostly fitted bodice.

The instructions are generally good. I did find the directions for the burrito method for sewing together the outer bodice and lining a little confusing, but Seamwork have a great video tutorial which explains the process nice and clearly. Other than that, I didn't have any problems at all and really enjoyed the process of sewing my Bobby dress.

In terms of sizing, I made a 10 at the bust blending out to a 12 at the waist as recommended for my measurements. I also lengthened the bodice by an inch, which is a standard adjustment for me. I think it fits just right!

I did wonder about shortening the skirt to knee length, but in the end decided to keep the midi length intended by the pattern to make it a bit different from my other dresses. In case you're wondering about skirt length - this is the length as in the pattern, it's midi length on me and I'm about 5'9". If you're shorter, you may well want to shorten the skirt. And in case it's of any help, I worked out that I'd need to shorten the skirt by about 5 inches if I wanted to make it knee length.

I'm really pleased with my Seamwork Bobby dress - it's obviously incredibly comfy, and the midi length feels a bit special and means that the skirt swishes about beautifully as I walk. I can definitely see myself making another Bobby dress or two - potentially shortened to knee length in a slightly heavier weight jersey to wear as a pinafore in autumn/winter. I also think it would be fun to try hacking the bodice into a top because I really like the shape of the V-neck. All in all, this one is definitely a winner for me!