Open Your Heart – Shirt Dress

I’ve been keen to make a shirt dress since seeing a gorgeous navy shirt dress on Pinterest a couple of years ago. I bought the pattern New Look 6180 with the intention of sewing it up in a liberty print. I ended up using the liberty print for the Odette dress so the shirt dress was put on hold.

I was inspired again by some dresses I spotted on ASOS. I really wanted a deep green polka dot but couldn’t find any fabric like that so I settled for the Navy hearts which I’m really happy about now as it looks cute, kinda like a polka dot. The fabric is from Darn Cheap fabrics in Glenhuntly, Melbourne. I think there’s some polyester in it as it isn’t the nicest of fabrics to sew. It didn’t really press well and the drape is average. A pure cotton or even a bit of rayon would be much nicer.

The pattern was really easy to sew up. I chose the sleeveless version as I was worried about it looking a bit frumpy with sleeves. No zipper, yah! Just an easy elastic waist, collar and button holes required. I must admit, I hate sewing collars, fiddly little things sometimes. But, if you follow the instructions carefully they will turn out ok.

To sum up, the pattern is easy, the fabric is ok, I like the design of the fabric but not the composition. The dress looks really pretty and it’s comfy to wear. I will be sewing up another one for sure but I might head off to my favourite little fabric shop Tessuti in Flinders Lane, Melbourne to find some gorgeous fabric.