I never want to see a pintuck again

Fleetwood dress copycat

Fleetwood dress copycat

Fleetwood dress copycat

Fleetwood dress copycat
dress: self-made // shoes: Chelsea Crew

You guuys, the day has come. I’ve been drowning* under a mountain** of end-of-semester papers and assignments but it’s finally all done!! I celebrated on Sunday by spending literally all day working on a dress. I woke up at 9am and worked all the way until 11pm when I physically had to stop and sleep on a heating pad because spending all day hunched over your sewing machine is apparently not good for one’s back. Especially when one strangely prefers sewing on the floor. Yikes.

This dress has been on my Sewing Inspiration board for ages. It’s one of the first Dear Creatures dresses I fell in love with and I had a vague idea of how I wanted to recreate it. I even bought the fabric for it weeks ago but I knew it was going to be a long process because of all the pintucks***. It was very involved but turned out to be the perfect project for a sewing-starved maniac.

Fleetwood dress progress

I started off with a muslin (even though I never make muslins– shhh!) because I was only 95% sure my idea would work. I used the bodice from M6646 as a template, and traced it onto a sheet of paper. I measured where I wanted the pleats to go, and then marked cutting lines for each pleat. I did 8 pleats 3/4″ apart on the bodice, 4 pleats 3/4″ apart on the straps, and 6 pleats 1/2″ apart on the skirt****. All the pleats are 1/4″ pleats (well, except the ones that went wibbly).

Fleetwood dress progress

Then I pretty much just cut each “slice” off and taped it 1/2″ away. And then I remembered that this pattern has a seam down the front center which I didn’t want so I marked and cut off the seam allowance.

Fleetwood dress progress

And this is what I ended up with.

Andd then I did the same for the other bodice pieces. I did rework the sweetheart shape a bit so I had to compensate for that in the adjoining pieces.

Fleetwood dress progress

Fleetwood dress progress

And voila! Each piece took ages. But once the bodice was done, the skirt was much easier since it was just a rectangle. I had two 22″ x 23″ rectangles so I used the longer side as the length. I think I would have needed another 6″ or so to make the full 12 pleats and not have this end up a peplum top.

But squee! It’s done!

*Ok, drowning’s a bit dramatic.

**And no, I have no idea how one would drown under a mountain.

***I literally spent an hour looking up types of pleats because I could not for the LIFE of me remember the word “pintuck” or how to do them properly. I read about accordion pleats, box pleats, pinch pleats, knife pleats, etc. and eventually gave up and just went with my gut (I’d done them once before but it was ages ago). And then I posted a photo of the dress on Flickr and someone commented on “all the pintucks” and I was like *facepalm*.

****I stopped at 6 because I was worried the skirt would be too short if I did the full 12 since I only bought 2 yards of fabric. I might go back and add at least two more.

50 Comments outfit - - - - -

50 thoughts on “I never want to see a pintuck again”

  1. This looks amazing! If the massive number of pintucks didn’t scare me I woulf attempt to make this myself. And I think the 6 pintucks on the skirt nicely balances with the top; I don’t think it needs more.

  2. This looks amazing! If the massive number of pintucks didn’t scare me I woulf attempt to make this myself. And I think the 6 pintucks on the skirt nicely balances with the top; I don’t think it needs more.

  4. Dear Creatures is one of my absolute favorites, but I think your version actually came out better than the original! I think their version has too many pintucks in the skirt, this one just looks nicer. I really love your style (if you can’t tell from all of my gushing comments lately :p).

  5. The dress is divine! I also have an idea including pintucks, It looks like it is so much but is is well worth it. btw I love how your hair compliment the tree behind you 🙂

    1. Thanks! I thought the tree was gorgeous but didn’t realize until I was editing photos that the color matched my hair. Go for the pintucks! Just put on a tv show marathon or have a good Pandora station going 🙂

  6. This dress is perfection! I love the fabric, color, shape, and especially the pintucks – I think you have the perfect amount – when I looked at the original inspiration I was like “well, it’s not quite as cute as ping’s” 😉 And what a gorgeous tree!

  7. This dress is perfection! I love the fabric, color, shape, and especially the pintucks – I think you have the perfect amount – when I looked at the original inspiration I was like “well, it’s not quite as cute as ping’s” 😉 And what a gorgeous tree!

  9. You shall be dubbed Queen of the Pintucks! This is fab- those tucks are wrth it as they make the dress! Awesome work 😀

  10. Fabulous dress, and I agree with the previous comments, I think the number of pin tucks you have done is perfect and balanced and better than the original. I think I want to copy, if I can bring myself to do that many tucks!

    1. You should! I was a bit overdramatic, it really wasn’t that bad and it was really rewarding in the end. I do recommend setting aside a chunk of time to do them all at once though because if you’re anything like me, the longer a project like this sits, the less likely it is that I’ll ever finish it. -_-

  14. We are on the same page, because I randomly woke up in the middle of the night and was like, “I must pintuck something!”

    Adorable dress!

    1. Thank you! I had to do quite a few practice runs! And as someone who is terrified of cutting into fresh fabric even with a pattern I’ve used a lot, cutting into this one was quite a horrific experience. -_-

  19. You have more bravery than me, I’m not sure my patience could have handled all the work it too, but the final product is truly beautiful

  20. You have more bravery than me, I’m not sure my patience could have handled all the work it too, but the final product is truly beautiful

    1. Thanks! Just have to be in the right mood, I guess. This was sitting on my shelf for weeks because I just couldn’t be bothered to start it. 🙂

  21. Wow!! I’m in awe, this is gorgeous!! What a wonderful job you did. I like the Japanese Maple (looks like?) behind you, as well.

  22. Wow!! I’m in awe, this is gorgeous!! What a wonderful job you did. I like the Japanese Maple (looks like?) behind you, as well.

  23. 1) Your dress is gorgeous. All of those pintucks were worth the effort!

    2) You might be able to drown under a mountain if there were a water-filled cave?

  27. Really spectacular! Thanks for the example on the bodice pattern. I have an idea for something with pintucks but couldn’t figure out how to calculate the pattern.

  29. oo my mind just went “squee I want one!” I love it in the grey. It is so beautiful and figure flattering. I’m glad you included the tutorial bits! Thanks! sewingforme.wordpress.com

  30. You did an awesome job!!!!
    Technically, these are NOT pintucks, but merely tucks.
    Pintucks are named for the “pin” which denotes that the width of the tuck is a pin’s width. You see them often in Heirloom sewing, of which I’ve taken many a class in. Most often they’re made with a double needle, and a pintuck foot, but can also be made the way you’ve made your tucks here – just 1/8″ (or less) width away from the needle. Sometimes they’re corded. They’re usually made with a lt. weight fabric as well – such as batiste or lawn.
    I’m very impressed that you made this gorgeous dress in one day, BTW!

    1. Ooh thanks, I had no idea there was a difference but that makes sense! Learn something new every day 🙂

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