I’ve got some more autumnal sewing to share with you guys today!

The wedding sewing has been going pretty well so far so I “treated” myself to a little selfish sewing and whipped up a little dress!

I had a good idea in my head as to what I wanted to make – something with a V neck, a semi fitted bodice, gathered skirt and some kind of pouffy sleeve. I didn’t have a particular pattern in mind but rather than try to draft it from scratch I opted to hack the Deer and Doe Myosotis dress instead!

I’ve made this dress one before (see it here) where I’d hacked the neckline, skirt length and sleeve. I knew how the bodice fitted me and it was similar enough to what I wanted that I thought it would be a great starting point!

(One day I’ll make the actual Myosotis pattern as it was meant to be… 😂)

So this is what I came up with!

For the bodice, the only adjustment I made was to lower the neckline and remove the collar stand. I created facings from this new neckline to match.

I wanted a little more volume in the skirt than the original so I opted to use the skirt ruffle piece instead as the width of the skirt and lengthened it. I made the skirt as long as I could with the amount of fabric I had which wasn’t very much so it’s a touch shorter than I’d have liked it to be!

The sleeves were flared out more to make them a bit more voluminous than my last iteration. Instead of using regular elastic in a channel for the cuff I turned the hem by 5cm and did 3 rows of shirring.

I’d bought some shirring elastic out of curiosity a few weeks ago – mostly it was to make my basket over the free delivery minimum spend – and decided it was time to try it out!

I love the effect it has in creating the ruffles edge as well the poufiness!

I added waist ties to the side seams which I’m still uncertain as to whether they were a good idea or not. I’ve a feeling I’ll be mostly wearing this dress as loosely as possible. Still, I like having the option of being able to cinch in the waist!

This fabric was a steal from Walthamstow market at £2/metre. I bought it well over a year ago intending on making a dressing gown out of it. I’m so glad I never got round to doing that! These colours are just screaming autumn to me this year!