Pattern Review: The Eloisa Dress by Named Patterns

 

I have no wonderful photos of this dress, but it's one of my all time favorites so I'm going to cobble together a few candid photos and call it good. Eventually, I want to get nicer photos of all of my recent makes, but this will have to do for now. 

I am a huge fan of Named patterns..... the block they use to draft their patterns tends to fit me with minimal adjustments, and they always put such unique details into their clothing. When I saw their newest book Building the pattern, I immediately fell in love with this simple skater dress with a cool bust seam and mock neck. It took me a few months to get going (the inertia was real) but once I cut out my first one, I almost immediately went ahead and cut out a second. I cut my suggested size both times, with no grading or adjusting needed.

I have two versions of this dress. The first I made was in a Hot pink scuba I got from Fabric.com. Now, This is not a color I tend to gravitate towards, but I needed something pink for a wedding, and I'm not a huge lover of pastels on me. I'm not going to lie, this one doesn't get a ton of wear, and I think it might be because of the color... I may dye it red or black at some point, because I tend to reach for those colors more often. Beyond my color aversions, This dress is great. I love the skater skirt in such a structured fabric, it feels very mod. The only change I made to this dress is I shortened the mock neck slightly, and added some elastic to the waistband to give it some structure and staying power. I think if I were to make this dress again in a similar fabric, I might make some modifications to the sleeves... because the scuba has so much body, they stood off my arms a bit.

My second version, I made one more adjustment. I added a good 4 inches to the length of the skirt, and I am so very glad I did! I also cut the top bodice piece on the cross grain, which gave it a cool directional look, and drew attention to that bust seam. I made this one out of a super drape-y mystery knit I picked up for $3/yard at SAS fabrics in Tempe. My husband told me I looked like a snake, but in a good way. We took these lovely photos at a park we found on our anniversary trip to Chicago, and they make me smile to look at.