We’re experiencing a heat wave in Oregon, and the humidity is so high, my hair flips and frizzes, no matter what I do :). When it’s this hot, only a cotton dress will do, and this wrap dress is perfect for these sweaty days. I became a fan of wrap dresses when I made this one last year. It was so cool in high summer.
My pattern is Vogue 9313, a wrap dress with lots of “easy” options. It has custom fit options with A-D cup sizes so it’s pretty easy to get the fit right. I modified the pattern a bit after trying on this dress at Anthropologie.
- I re-drafted the shape of the full skirt to make it take out a bit of the fullness. (Too much fabric makes me hot in the summer). Also, I modified the two front skirts by rounding them into a tulip skirt shape so that it would work better with a ruffle.
2. Instead of finishing the skirt fronts with bands as the pattern suggests, I added a 3 inch ruffle to each skirt front where the band would be and extended the ruffle into the hemlines as well. The ruffles are folded strips of fabric that are 1 and 1/2 times the length of the skirt fronts and hems. I gathered each ruffle with a long stitch then sewed them to the skirt fronts with a 5/8 inch seam.
4. I eliminated the front and back waist bands and lengthened the front and back bodices by two inches to make up for it.
5. The sleeves were too wide for me, so I added a tie instead of a hem. I cut a 4″ opening in each sleeve to accomodate the tie, then finished the openings with narrow hems. For the tie, I cut a narrow strip (5″) of fabric that was two times the circumference of the sleeve. I attached it to the sleeve hem as though it was a sleeve band or cuff.
I came pretty close to my goal with this make. It’s casual and comfortable but can be dressed up with a few good accessories. This cotton fabric from Fabric Depot is perfection. It has a bit of texture, but isn’t too heavy so it drapes really well and doesn’t seem to wrinkle much. Another travel dress?? Hmmm – – time will tell. I’ll know after I wear it a bit more.
Cotton and linen are my go to fabrics in the heat – and I wear dresses all the time. My Kalle shirt dress is in heavy rotation right now. What do you prefer to wear in the heat?
Happy sewing and thanks for stopping by.
I love that print and the fabric would be a perfect choice in this hot weather. (It’s unusually warm here too!). I love that pattern but I love your ruffle idea even more! Nicely done!
Thanks, Linda – -Yes, it is great fabric for the heat, so the hot weather was a good excuse to go for it. Seems to be pretty warm everywhere this week! The bad news is we have to stay in where it’s air conditioned. The good news is, staying in means more time to sew..Stay cool!!
There’s a plan… stay in and sew! 😁👍
What a lovely dress Linda! I enjoyed reading how you modified the design for your ruffle and the tie sleeve details. It worked beautifully.
As you know we’ve been having a heatwave in the UK, but sadly our homes don’t have A/C 🙁 It’s been a struggle) News reports said that with global warming it could happen more often and so offices and homes need to be better equipped to cope in the future.
Stay cool!
Thanks, Diane! The sleeve ties were a spur of the moment change but fortunately it worked out. Oh, now that you mention it, I have noticed on trips to the UK that air conditioners are few and far between, hope you have a basement to hide out in? Yes, unfortunately, I think we have more hot weather to look forward to. Sometimes the future looks so grim to me, and I worry about our kids, what they’ll face. Ugh! Hang in there!
Urgh, I feel you about the heat, it’s been the hottest summer since 1976 in the UK! The dress is lovely and I hope it’s keeping you as cool as it looks. I especially like the tie hack!
Thanks, Alex! I’m sorry it’s as hot there as it is here.. hope you have a cool place to hang while the weather does its thing. I’m so taken with tie sleeves right now…so glad they are relatively easy to do!
It’s so pretty Linda and such a gorgeous print!
Thanks, Faye. I love the colors in this one!
A lovely wrap dress. I am a fan of wrap dress
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