Dreaming of…comfort in jersey dresses

This dress is hands down the comfiest dress I have ever made. There’s a bit of a tale behind it, which if you’re happy to hear it, I’m happy to tell. Fair warning – it’s a fairly mediocre tale so if you just want to look at the pretty pictures, that’s fine too!

It all started a few years ago when my mum asked me to recreate a panelled jersey dress she had. Back then I hadn’t really worked much with jersey, so I traced off the pieces of the original dress and then used this cheap jersey to make a mock up. However, I had to do some creative pattern placement – read patch working the fabric so that I could fit in all of the pattern pieces. This has resulted in an interestingly cobbled together dress, but as it was just a muslin and never intended to be worn, I only wanted to see the shape.

So I made up mum’s dress in a nicer fabric and this lay in a drawer for the next few years. Until we planned to drive to Belgium. 6 hours sitting in a car meant that I needed something comfy and unrestrictive – and I remembered this, which at that stage was pretty much an unfinished nightie.

I finished the armholes and neckline with bias binding and then added this fugly, but sort of works trim and then I hemmed it and had a suitable new travelling dress.

I soon realised it was a little too short, and rather too blowy for a ferry ride, but it definitely did the job in comfort and it was fine to wear with tights around the pretty streets in Ghent.

You can see lots of the patch working in all of the photos.

However, when I got home I grabbed the last bits of fabric and cut it into strips to lengthen the dress. I pleated it slightly so it was more of a flounce and now it’s much more wearable with or without tights!