Introducing the Sylvie Dress

I am so happy to announce our newest pattern, The Sylvie Dress, a fun dress for all your summertime plans!

Though I have lived in Los Angeles for over a decade, I am still a midwestern girl at heart. It doesn't take much to remember both the mental and physical significance of crossing over Memorial Day into summer. No, that isn't the "real" first day of summer, nor is Labor Day the first day of autumn, but if you live in a place with four dramatic seasons, Memorial Day and Labor Day are major marks on the calendar, signaling the beginning and ending of summer.

With that in mind, I wanted to design a dress to fulfill all those summertime hopes and plans we make all winter long. You've spent your cold days making lists of picnics and backyard barbecue gatherings with friends, trips to the beach with family, and warm-weather weddings requiring a new pretty frock. The Sylvie Dress fits the bill for all the above situations and more.

View A is the ultimate picnic dress, which is why I simply had to make one of the samples in gingham. The bodice has a deep scoop neck, sleeveless armholes, darts up the back for fitting, and an invisible zipper in the center back. Under the bust are three small darts, which lends a feminine touch to the shape. Under the bust seam is a wide waistband, and it's all topped off with a full dirndl skirt and large rectangle patch pockets.

What's so wonderful about this pattern is its versatility. The waistband can be cut on grain or on the bias, as pictured above, which is fantastic for prints like this gingham. I designed the skirt to be a dirndl because I wanted to take advantage of all those gorgeous border prints out there, as well as fabrics with beautiful finished selvage edges, like pictured in the yellow eyelet version below.

The patch pockets are of course optional, (though I've never met a sewer that didn't like a pocket!), and because they are just placed on top, you can cut them on grain, on the crossgrain to match your border print, or on the bias to take advantage of a print like the gingham or a plaid.

To make this a quick and fun summer sew, only the waistband is lined and both the neckline and the armholes are finished with bias binding.

View B features many of the same fantastic details, but with a more slim silhouette. After offering so many dresses that are full or have large gathered skirts, I wanted to give everyone the option of pairing one of my dresses with a fitted pencil skirt.

The bodice and waistband are the same as in View A, though above and below the waistband is the option of piping, which really makes for an elegant detail. The piping can of course either be a contrast fabric, as pictured above, or in self-fabric as in the orange linen version pictured below.

The skirt is a slim pencil skirt with four darts in the front and four in the back, so it fits and hugs your body. This is the kind of dress that is perfect for wearing to the office by day, topped with a cardigan or jacket, then out on the town after work on its own. Seriously, thinking of this in black is pretty much the ultimate little black dress.

And I probably don't have to tell you all this, but of course you can add the piping from View B to View A, or leave it off all together. You can also cut the waistband on View B on the bias too if you want to feature a print that looks great on the bias.

My goal when designing a pattern is for a very wide range of possible mixing and matching, and I think the Sylvie Dress provides you with a really expansive list of customization options.

Thanks as always for the amazing support and kindness you all show both me and my patterns. I am humbled each and every time I see one of my patterns sewn and being worn in your life. It is a honor to have you pick my pattern to sew with, given the incredible offerings out there! So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Oh, and if you want me and others to see your dress, remember to use the #SylvieDress hashtag!