Finding The Perfect Wrap Dress

In the summertime when sweltering temperatures are a daily occurrence I find myself living in cute cotton house dresses. I have about 3-4 dresses that I wear in heavy rotation. They have begun showing their age.  so I needed to make a few new frocks fast. So began my search for Finding The Perfect Wrap Dress.

The Walk Away Dress

Having been sewing and wearing my own dresses for a few years now I know what styles I like. An A line or fuller skirt gives me freedom of movement while allowing cool air to circulate. I also like a bit of sleeve coverage to hide my undergarments.  

Since I needed a couple of dresses quickly I turned to the Walk Away dress style. 

In 1952 Butterick released their highest selling pattern ever, #6015. It was dubbed the walk-away dress as it was so easy you could “Start it after breakfast… walk-away in it for luncheon!”

Other pattern companies were eager to jump on the bandwagon. 

Some of you might even remember when I made the Advance pattern version a few years ago. 

A few years later Butterick created another wrap dress style, #6150, which was called the Saturday Morning dress.

Finding The Perfect Wrap Dress

The two Butterick patterns, as well as the Vogue pattern, were reissued in recent years as part of their retro lines. So, I picked them up during a sale at JoAnn’s. 

Butterick 6212

This is a great pattern! It is more of an intermediate project. But a new sewist could try it with some assistance. 

There is a bit of hand sewing involved to create the bodice midriff facing. 

I would say to definitely make a mockup first. I wish I had done this as I found that my typical size 12 pattern was about 2 sizes too big. As it is just intended as a dress to wear around the house I did not fix the issue. 

The back underskirt is more of a sheath style which was revealed in a breeze. 

I opted to use fabric ties versus the button option. I looked for strawberry buttons and came up empty handed. 

Vogue 1864

This is a really good project for a beginner sewist. The dress can be sewn up fairly quickly. 

However, this dress has two areas that are potentially eligible for wardrobe malfunctions. 

I share in this week’s video how two simple solutions fixed the problems. 

The vintage hat was found in a FREE box at a recent estate sale. It had a huge hole in the front brim. You can see the fast and easy repair in the video. 

I hope you are keeping cool!

This Week’s Video

There were a few big sewing fails and some epic nature footage captured by Sweet Guy in this week’s video. 

If you wish to view the video in a larger format just click on the black box in the lower left hand corner that says Watch on YouTube.

 

I’ll see you Sunday,

Laura