Do you ever look at an outfit and think to yourself “I can totally make that!”? It happens to me rather often especially when I go out of my way to do some (online) window shopping!

In the middle of lockdown I took to Net A Porter for some sewing inspiration and came across this dress from the brand Sleeper.

I loved the square neck and puff sleeve and that gingham! Plus I knew I already had the perfect pattern to replicate it!

I used the Fibre Mood Elma dress as the base for this creation. I made this dress once already (check it out here) so I knew it had the style lines and general shape I needed.

Essentially I kept the main body of the pattern the same as my previous version, just shortening it slightly to a midi length. All I needed to change were the shape of the sleeve a little and to add the corset aspect.

For the corset lacing I added loops of fabric (made with a loop turner in the same way I made the ties) into the front and back princess seams. I used 5cm pieces and added four into each seam. I made sure to space them evenly on either side of the waist to ensure they hit the right spot.

I altered the sleeve to increase the sleeveless height and added more width for gathers at both ends. I turned over the sleeve hem to create a channel for elastic just to make it even easier to construct.

The red gingham fabric is a woven yarn dyed cotton that I got from Material Girl Laura using a discount voucher from the online Sewing Weekender in June. I couldn’t find a match to the original black in a substrate I liked but I thought the red was a good compromise!

It pretty turned out as I expected! Though I wonder if a drapier fabric would have looked nicer. It’s hard to tell! I think it’s a good replica of the original though but I don’t know how wearable it really is! I feel like I’m wearing a costume! And I also feel like I should be carrying a picnic basket for some reason… Hopefully I’ll get the confidence to wear it out more though!