Recent Repeats

For today's post you're getting two dresses for the price of one! Although don't get too excited, because they're both repeat versions of recent projects (my Butterick 6556 and Seamwork Bobby dresses) so there I haven't got much revolutionary new information to share about them.

First up, here's my second version of Butterick 6556. I did always intend that my original version would be something of a test run to see how much I enjoyed wearing the dress - while I like the striped cotton that I used, it had been in my stash for ages and didn't cost that much originally so it was a fairly 'low risk' kind of fabric. Thankfully the stripey version proved very successful, so I was happy to cut into slightly more precious fabric.

In this case it's a cotton voile from Seasalt (no longer available, but they do have lots of new autumnal fabric beauties). I do enjoy sewing with Seasalt fabric, but there's a part of me that always feels compelled to sew something that's noticeably different from the garments Seasalt made with the same fabric - if nothing else because it entertains me to confuse their shop assistants when they recognise the fabric, but then not the actual garment (small things amuse me!). The dress Seasalt had made with this fabric was lovely, but definitely different from this square necked beauty so Butterick 6556 got my seal of approval for this fabric.

There's really not a lot more to say about this, because I didn't do anything at all that was different from my first version!

In contrast, my second Bobby dress has a couple of little changes, one which will be obvious if you compare it with my original one, and one which is slightly more subtle.

The obvious difference is that I shortened this one to be knee length. While I love the midi style of my turquoise blue Bobby, it seems like quite a summery length that's best to be worn with sandals. As there probably won't be too much more sandal-wearing weather this year, I thought for this version I'd try it at knee length. I shortened the skirt pattern by about 4.5", and used a one inch hem and it turned out just how I wanted.

The more subtle difference is that I used 1.5" elastic for the waist instead of the 2" called for in the pattern - for no reason other than the fact that I had some 1.5" elastic in my stash and I thought I might as well use it rather than going out to buy 2". For Bobby, you create the elastic casing by stitching a line parallel to waistline so it's easy to alter where you stitch the casing to accommodate narrower elastic.

The fabric that I used for this second version of Bobby is a great quality cotton jersey from Like Sew Amazing that I picked up at Sarah's Bristol shop at her recent summer party. It's a lovely pink - nice and bright, and the kind of colour I'll wear year-round.

On the face of it, making a couple of sleeveless dresses as summer is coming to an end might seem like a slightly odd choice but I fully intend to carry on wearing both of these dresses with cardigans and tights as the temperatures drop. I'll probably also try layering them with long-sleeved shirts/t-shirts underneath, because any dress without sleeves is fair game for use as a pinafore as far as I'm concerned! So making dresses like this is actually a good way of transitioning gradually from summer to autumn sewing for me. Have you switched seasons in your sewing already?

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!