I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect everyday linen dress ever since I started working from home. Something that is comfortable, breathable. loose fit, but dressy. Sounds like an impossible task, right? As much as I’d love to lounge around in sweats and my marvel graphic tees all day (which there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with), when I have a work meeting or someone comes to the door unexpectedly, I feel like I need a change of wardrobe. But, I mean, I don’t want to ACTUALLY dress up. Enter the Sage Smock dress from SewThisPattern. A ruffled, loose fit, woven dress. Perfect. I love how the ruffles add a touch of elegance and playfulness while still maintaining a casual fit (without looking like your grandmothers nightgown).
Starting with a mockup
First I started by making a mockup out of muslin. I originally made the mockup with the puff sleeve option that the pattern provides. However, I decided against the puff sleeve option for the more tailored sleeve look. I thought this helped make it looks less cottagecore and more gardencore. Even though I love a good cottagecore puff sleeve, the balance with the ruffles and tailored sleeve is just perfection. I strikes a balance between whimsy and utilitarian. I normally hate making mockups as I dislike fabric waste or making something for “just the fit” and then never wearing it again. So I decided I’m going to dye this muslin with coffee and embroider flowers for a beautiful off white floral dress. Then I can have a cottagecore dress too!
The Materials
I found the most beautiful linen from https://fabrics-store.com/. They are a 100% OEKO-TEX certified company and their linen is DIVINE. This color is called “Shadow Gray” which had me slightly bewildered because it is NOT gray. It’s more of a vintage pink and its one of my newest favorite colors. The pattern uses just under 4 yards of fabric. I always love rounding up when a pattern says 3.75 yards. Anyone else do that? Then if I make a mistake I have extra. Or you can make a cute scrunchie or headband to go with the dress!
Next I needed to find a thread that matched. I found the gutermann mauve was the perfect color match.
Finishing the Seams
Once I had my mockup made I knew exactly how I wanted to sew this dress. I decided to finish the dress with french seams. I’ve been working on my couture techniques and this is one of the easiest ones to tackle at first. A word of caution though. When you try this pattern or any pattern with gathers or ruffles, a french seam results in a bulky seam. My suggestion would be to serge/overlock.
In conclusion
On the whole, this dress took me under 2 hours to make. That includes cutting the linen, sewing, finishing, and pressing. I think this dress would look so good in a ditsy floral print too. Maybe an idea come springtime? Its so soft and comfortable from the linen and loose fit. There is one adjustment I’d make to a future version which is to drop the neckline by half and inch or a whole inch which should help my sensory issues. So what do you think? Would you wear this dress?
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