Ivory Lace Shirt Dress

This is my Ivory lace shirt dress which I am entering into the Tessuti Fabrics Cut Out Lace Sewing Competition.

I had to create an outfit that showcased their gorgeous lace. You can purchase the lace in black, red or ivory. They are all stunning but my eye kept heading towards the ivory lace. You can make whatever you like so long as you use the lace throughout the garment.

I just love shirt dresses and I’d seen a few on Pinterest that I l really liked.  In particular one by Chloe which was on the runway in 2015.  I used Simplicity pattern 8014 which has four versions of a shirt dress. I wanted long sleeves like the Chloe design and I wanted it to be a mini length. I chose version D but added the long sleeves of version A which has a tab so you can roll the sleeves up.  I had to square off the hem so that the lace border could feature on the hem.

It was a bit of a challenge getting all the lace patterns in the right place. I had to line up the center front on one panel to match the center front of another panel and cut them out seperately. I also had to use fabric without the cut out lace for the under collar and cuffs.

Sewing up the dress was super fun. The fabric is a lot easier to sew than it appears although watch out for random pins as it pulls easily as I discovered after I pulled a thread…aghhh! I had to mend it by hand sewing. I used a normal zig zag to finish the edges as I thought the overlocker was too bulky. Zig zag worked just fine. The hem was easy as the border had a little bit of extra fabric which I just folded and hand sewed in place. I had twelve button holes to sew which scared the heck out of me but after I finished the first couple, I just got in the groove and had them done in no time.

For my pics of the Ivory Lace Shirt Dress, I teamed it up with some long suede boots and a fringe bag from ASOS to give it the boho look I’d seen on the runway.  I went to my local cafe (the Woodfrog bakery) to get a coffee when I was taking these pictures and the girl making my coffee asked me where I got my dress from as she loved it!! I was thrilled, it made my day.

I have created a free PDF A line Skirt Pattern to download or visit my pattern shop.

Thanks to my partners friend Andrew for the shots