A Chambray Dottie Angel Frock

Long time no blog!  But I finally finished a new dress!

This is one of the patterns designed by Dottie Angel for Simplicity.  If you are not familiar with Dottie Angel, well, basically she makes grandma clothes.  But, like, cool grandma clothes.  I would describe her style as, “granny chic”.  She designs dresses, tunics, and aprons that are very practical and simplistic.

This pattern is Simplicity 1080.  It has a couple of different views including a dress version with color blocking and a tunic version.  I opted for the dress version without the color blocking. The fabric I used a chambray that I got from Hobby Lobby at some point, and the contrast pockets came from a fat quarter that I found at a flea market.  Hooray for finding a use for fat quarters!

Like I said, the design of this dress is very simple. For the version I made, I just had to cut out a front, back, ties, and the pocket pieces.  The dress has a basic A-line shape, which is an unusual choice for me.  I tend to go for full skirts with lots of pleats and gathers so that I know there’s going to be plenty of room for my bum.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty room in the basement in this pattern.

One of the things that I like about this pattern, is that it is very loose, but doesn’t look like a bag.  I think the secret that makes this pattern flattering, are the tucks under the bust.  They, along with the ties that are sewn into the tucks, give the dress its shape.  Since this dress is shaped by how tightly you tie the bow in the back, it is SUPER adjustable.  The only area I see fit being a potential issue in is the bust.  I am a D cup and the bust on this dress is just the slightest bit tight around my bust.  It’s not a big enough issue for me that I would bother doing anything about it, but if you have a bigger bust, that’s something to take into account.

One of the things I love about sewing, is that with each new pattern I try, I always learn at least one new technique.  Even though this dress is very simple in its design, it calls for bias bound, and French seams.  I was a little dubious about these techniques at first, but I am glad I tried them.  The neckline and arm holes are finished with bias binding anyway, so having the shoulder seams bias bound as well is a nice touch.  It is way more work than just stitching and overlocking your seam, but I think it makes for a good quality seam and nice, neat insides.  As for the French seams, I had never tried them before, mostly due to fear about having fitting issues with them, so this was a great pattern to try them out with.  Again, both of these methods take extra time and work, but I think they’re great, especially if you don’t have serger and don’t like zig zagging your raw edges.

Uneven stitching? What uneven stitching?

I think my favorite things about this pattern, which caused it to catch my eye in the first place, are the pockets.  Omg the pockets.  They are a great detail and are also super useful!  I added a little bit of lace to mine, which the pattern did not call for, but I love the effect it has.  Once again, you use bias binding to enclose the raw edges, which is both super useful and adds a little bit of a design element.  I like what the bias binding does for the pockets, but it was a pain in the butt to put together.  One thing that really helped me was to secure the curves with wonder clips while hand basting the binding onto the pockets  before stitching them on to the dress front.  Even if I could have forced a pin through that many layers, it would have made lumps and bumps, so clips saved my life here.

So there you have it!  The Dottie Angel frock!  I have really been loving this dress and wearing it to death (like I do with all of my makes).  I think this is a great pattern if you just want an easy make for a super quick casual day dress.  I am hoping to make more of them soon!