Style Arc Hampton Woven Dress

Today's project mainly came about because of a sale that Style Arc had on their patterns a little while ago. Ever the bargain hunter, I was browsing their site to see if I "needed" to take advantage of the discount and was reminded that I've always liked the look of the Hampton Woven Dress, so I decided to give it a try.

The Hampton dress is a modern take on a classic shirtdress, featuring princess seams, a curved high/low waist seam and a gathered mid-calf skirt. It has a classic collar and collar stand, button plackets, in-seam pockets and a hem facing. There's a long-sleeved option in addition to the sleeveless version that I made.

The sizing covers bust measurements from 30.3" to 67.75, and hips from 32.6" to 70.1".

All the shirtdress features are lovely, but they do mean that this isn't a quick project. That's completely fine by me though – I like a slightly more involved project every now and then. I enjoyed gradually working through all of the steps and seeing my dress slowly take shape.

I'd say the instructions are on the brief side, and they're the kind that can sound confusing if you read them through before starting your project, but I found them perfectly detailed enough and easy to follow during my sewing process. I'd say the diagrams are fine as a support for the written instructions, but if you're someone who prefers to use visual instructions then they might not be the best.

The only real problem that I had when making my dress was when I was tracing my pattern pieces – I found it really difficult to distinguish between the sizes. I eventually realised that when I ordered the printing of the A0 pattern, I'd asked for colour printing but for some reason the printing company printed it in greyscale, which obviously wasn't very helpful! So make sure you have the pattern in colour to make life easier for yourself than I had it!

I made a size 12 as recommended for my bust measurement. My waist and hips would be in the size 14 according to the size chart, but I could tell from the finished garment measurements that there was no need to blend out to the larger size. I think the fit turned out nicely – it's shaped but still very comfortable.

The only fitting alteration that I made was to take a triangular wedge out of each bodice side seam going from a centimetre at the underarm and rejoining the original seam line just above the waist. I find that I often need to do this on bodices of dresses with sleeved and sleeveless options that don't provide different armscyes for the sleeved/sleeveless versions.

The fabric that I used for my Hampton dress is a pretty printed chambray that I bought from Croft Mill. I'm a big fan of printed chambray, and Croft Mill have a lovely range of them. I thought it would be a great option for the pattern, and I'm pleased to report that I think I was right. It was very easy to work with and hangs nicely as the finished dress.

I'm glad that the sale prompted me to buy the Hampton Woven Dress pattern – I enjoyed sewing it and I think I'll wear my finished dress a lot!