Sleeveless summer dress

Pre-pandemic, I used to work in an office with a relatively formal dresscode (think men in slacks or suits, women in pencil skirts or dress paints, hair in a bun). Our office was also right under the flat roof of a big building and we had no A/C (yay Europe!). So it got HOT in summer. We had a rule that if the outside temperature was over 30C (86F) we could have bare arms and bare legs, both men and women. Summer '19 was very hot, so during winter '19/'20 I picked up some linen fabric and in the new year I started sewing a nice new dress that I could wear to the office that summerā€¦ Well, we all know how that turned out. I work somewhere else now, we have AC, and this office doesnā€™t have a formal dress code. So I put this dress away and eventually finished it last autumn, so I havenā€™t been able to wear it yet but I will. The pattern is self-drafted.

I initially finished the neckline with a facing and topstitching, but after that I lost some weight and had to make some changes to the darts. To do that, I had to remove the facing completely to adapt the bust, and I just couldnā€™t make myself cut a new facing and attach it all over again. So I finished the necline with bias tape the second time. As you can see on the inside, there are some ā€œflapsā€ of fabric, that are remnants of where I had initially clipped in the seam when the dress still had a facing. These are pressed flat now and are invisible when you wear it.

The dress is fairly modest because it was meant for work, so the necline hits my collarbone, it reaches my knees, itā€™s not tight but it does follow my figure and my figure is rather curvy. Because my weight fluctuated over Covid, I had to make changes to the darts quite a few times.

Thereā€™s an invisible zipper in the side seam.

The back. As I said, my figure is rather round, which means thereā€™s a lot of space in this dress for my backside, but my upper back is fairly narrow, so there are several darts here. When I buy a dress in the store, itā€™s always shapeless on my upper back, because thereā€™s just too much fabric.

Itā€™s still only slightly above freezing so I havenā€™t been able to take pictures of me wearing it yet. I thought it would be perfect for Easter (with a jacket or cardigan) but itā€™s still so cold that I donā€™t think I can.

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Love your choice of fabric! Hope you get to model it soon.

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Love, love, love the fabric! Wish I knew how to make my own clothes; Iā€™d make some modest necklines. Your dress is very pretty; hope you get a chance to wear it.

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This is so pretty and I imagine would be so comfortable - socially and physically - in the situation you originally made it for. I hope you get many opportunities to wear it this coming summer.

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You drafted the pattern yourself?! You are amazing! Itā€™s a beautiful dress. Iā€™m in love with the fabric you used, too.

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What a great dress! I canā€™t believe you customized it and drafted it yourself. What a great staple for your wardrobe!

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So pretty! And a lot of work to make it fit! Iā€™m always in awe of people who can draft their own patterns and do all the adjustment things.

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Very pretty and I love that it is tailored to you!

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Perfect dress for the warmer weatherā€¦but it is so cute that I definitely think you can wear it in the fall with a sweater or jacketā€¦love the flowersā€¦looks like it will be very flattering because you made it to fit your shape!

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That looks very pretty and well constructed, nice work!

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