My first womenswear pattern, the Weekend Doris Dress and Sweater pattern is now available to buy!
My testers have been beavering away at their sewing machines and running up so many fabulous examples, I can't wait to share them with you over the next few days, I'm sure some of them will be sharing on their own blogs too.





The pattern is inspired by the casual styles of the late 1950's and 1960's, specifically the kind of casual outfits Doris Day would wear. You can see my inspiration board on Pinterest
I like to relax at the weekends like most people, but I'm not a yoga pants and t shirt kind of woman, I still like to feel put together, just in a more relaxed fashion. This pattern is perfect for that retro inspired casual weekend.



The dress is short, with optional pockets and decorative exposed zip. Three quarter length sleeves and neckband.
The sweater skims the hips and looks great with casual capri pants and ballet flats.

Knit fabrics are recommended for both. I have made up both in sweater knit, vintage polyester knit, ponte and interlock. All work well and give a slightly different look each time.



The pattern is available as a PDF and as a paper copy from my Etsy store.
Flossie's Garden

My Weekend Doris dress and sweater pattern is out with the testers, I'm already getting some great feedback, and hope to have the pattern ready for sale by the beginning of March.
One of my testers wanted to know if it was possible to use a woven for the pattern. Stretch fabric is recommended, but curious I had a play and with a little alteration it is possible.



This Doris is made using some printed poly, a fairly lightweight dress fabric. I cut the front one size up from my usual size to accomodate my full bust, but graded down two sizes smaller at my waist and hips, for a hopefully slightly more streamlined dress. The back was cut in my usual size ,but again graded down at the waist and hips, with seam allowance added at the centre back to insert a zip.



The resulting dress works pretty well. The sleeves are slightly snug at the cuff, so if I wanted to do this again I would add more to the bottom of the sleeve. Others might find they needed to add more to the width of the sleeve along the whole length.
I wish I had interfaced the neckband, it stands up in a cute way, which I like, but would've been better with some body to hold it in place. The neckband could be left off all together, and replaced either with a facing or bias bound edge.
Maybe I'd add inseam pockets next time too.

Are you sick of these dresses yet? I'm sorry if you are, but there are more to come!

Yes, it's another Weekend Doris Dress! This time made with some vintage poly knit I bought a while ago at Stockport Vintage Village. I loved the print, but the fabric really is awful, very 70's synthetic, with very little stretch for a knit. I thought the chevrons might suit the Doris, and I was right. I love this dress and I really didn't think I would.



Concerned at the lack of stretch in this fabric I decided to add a back zip. So added seam allowance to the back and inserted an invisible zip. I swapped out the original zip pull for a more 60's style large ring pull. Sorry for the poor photo quality...ever tried to take a photo of the back of your dress on your own? Not easy!



And the Snap Crackle and Pop? Well, try wearing a dress made in this poly over tights, and under an original 1960's poly cardigan....there is a lot of crackle, but thankfully so far no snapping or popping, or bursting into flames!