After I made a yellow gingham hack of the By Hand London Flora and Eloise dresses, I really wanted to make another. When I was in Italy one of the owners of a restaurant we went to was wearing a lovely black gingham maxi dress with tie straps – it was pretty much a Flora bodice with buttons and tie straps, a gathered skirt and a frill. This dress really stuck in my head and at the New Craft House party I spotted the perfect gingham viscose as worn by @SewDisabled. I got my hands on 3.5 metres so was able to gather the skirt and I still have some left over possibly for a top.
One of the hacks I did here was add a fake button placket. Normally when I’ve done this in the past I’ve cut the front piece 2cm from the edge of the fold so that I can just sew a line down the middle and iron the placket flat. I tried that this time but as the viscose was so soft and drapey, I couldn’t end up with a straight line. So instead I cut the Flora bodice out as normal and cut a separate piece for the button placket which I interfaced. I folded each edge over 5mm and stitched it to the bodice along the edge. The gingham was quite helpful here to make sure it was straight!
I intended to cut the frill a bit shorter but when I tried it on I really liked the feel of it as a maxi in such soft viscose so I left it long. It’s the perfect dress for running errands and an ideal holiday dress, and despite only finishing it a week ago, I’ve worn it three times already.
Kate Eva 