From Tie Detail Top to Sun Dress

I spotted this fabric in Ditto last year. I had no idea what I’d make with it, there was just something about the stripe and the quality of the weave so I succumbed and bought 3m.

It’s taken me a while to get round to using it but with holiday season approaching I had an idea for a beach dress. The large repeat of the red and white stripes needed a generous shape to do it justice.

The stripes are woven into the weft of the fabric (across the width of the fabric) which is 150cm wide. The narrower red stripe is 1cm wide with a 1cm gap before the broader 3.5cm wide red stripe. Then there is a gap of 34cm before the same strip repeat happens again.

I decided to start with The Tie Detail Top and use the fabric with the stripes going down the body and along the sleeves following the seams. 

To make the most of the stripes I made some adjustments to the pattern. On the front I kept the centre front seam abut reduced the seam allowance to 1cm as I wouldn’t be adding the tie detail. On the back I added a centre back seam with a 1cm seam allowance. Then I lengthened both back and front by 60cm as shown above, to make my dress length.

On the sleeve pattern piece, I straightened the overarm seam to make it easier to place the stripes, deciding to add a drawstring neck to gather in the excess. Then I widened the sleeve by 6cm and shortened it by 6cm, to make a gathered, bracelet length sleeve.

As the stripe goes one way and I wanted to mirror the design, I placed the front and back halves top-to-toe, with the narrowest stripe on the outside for the front and the inside for the back.

For the sleeves I placed the stripes so that on the front the wide stripe is above the narrow one, then reversed it for the back sleeve with the narrow above the wider stripe. This means the the stripe on the sleeves work with the stripe placement on the back and front.

When making up the front I lowered the opening to 18cm from the top. The neckline is finished with a white cotton cord drawstring: the neck binding acting as the casing.

At the sleeve cuffs I used a narrow elastic inside the turned hem. Finally, for the hem I turned the garment up by 1cm then a further 4cm. The finished garment is 120cm and works well as a roomy beach cover-up or it can be belted loosely at the hip to wear out in the evening.

The printed version of this pattern is still available Here or for the digital version use the Buy Pattern link below.