Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

The Ralph Pink Sahara shirt dress 

This week’s last minute make was for Indie Pattern Month which is currently being hosted over at The Monthly Stitch blog. The theme for the first week of July was dresses! An easy one, right?

I decided to make the Ralph Pink Sahara shirt dress which I picked up in a sale earlier this year. I had originally planned to make it for the #sewtogetherforsummer Instagram shirt dress challenge but I ran out of time! (I was too busy making things to wear to Glastonbury!). I’m glad I had the opportunity to enter into a different contest though!

So back to this pattern – it’s a super simple oversized shirt dress. I fell in love with the sample version on the Ralph Pink site. It’s so simple and chic. 


I had initially planned for a plain khaki green silk version but then I dyed my hair pink and found that I wasn’t so keen on that colour on me at all! I made a last minute switch out and used a lovely floral print fine poly satin I picked up at Walthamstow market a few weeks ago. 

In a more stable fabric this dress would ridiculously simple and quick to make up. With the slippery stuff I picked out? Not an impossible task by any means but it was definitely not as fun and easy as I would have liked it to be!

I also felt a lot of the detailing got a it lost in the print which was a shame. 


The instructions were the best yet if all the Ralph Pink patterns I’ve used! I only spotted one error in a diagram early on but otherwise they made sense! (Anyone confused by this check out my posts here and here…). 

Overall I really like this dress. It really carries the vibe and style I’m into at the moment – very casual and slouchy but still a bit chic. 

I’d love to make a plain white cotton or linen version. With pockets. Definitely with pockets. 

Now I’m gonna go run off and try to make something in time for the IPM New to Me challenge that ends next Friday! I’ve got to get a move on!

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5 Comments

  1. Hi-came over from Helen’s Closet. Your version is adorable and way cuter than the RP picture. I think this gets added to my summer queue.

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