Pocketses and ribbony trim

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat

Porter dress copycat
dress: self-made // shoes: Chelsea Crew // hair bow: F21

It’s a fairly torturous feeling when all you want to do in the world is curl up in front of your sewing machine and sew for hours but you can’t because of adulthood and responsibilities and silly things like that. Even worse when you have all the fabric and patterns and notions you need sitting at home twiddling their thumbs and gathering dust. It got so bad that I ended up scheduling a sewing date for myself in my calendar.

And oh my, it was glorious. I was actually surprised how quickly this one came together considering I didn’t actually have a pattern to work off of. To be fair, the construction is pretty basic, but it’s always scary cutting into nice fabric when you don’t quite know what you’re doing.

Yes yes, I know. Muslins and all that. I did cut out a muslin for the front piece but then I decided I hadn’t waited three weeks to sit in front of the machine to sew together a muslin. I live dangerously?

Anyway, luckily everything worked out! I’m in love with this dress. Everything I’ve made lately has been fitted and waist-flattering but sometimes a girl needs to be able to wear a dress out to dinner and then gorge herself, and flowy garments come in handy in those situations. I did use an elongated version of the sleeves from Burda 7739 to draft the 3/4 length sleeves but the rest of it was hand-drafted. I tried using Colette’s Sorbetto pattern for the top, but I ended up having to make so many alterations to the muslin that I wouldn’t recommend it unless you literally have zero concept of what a front piece of a tank top ought to look like.

If you haven’t seen the lovely inspiration for this dress, it’s the Porter dress by Dear Creatures. To be honest, I wasn’t totally in love with it when I first saw it. The collar was cute, and I loved the ribbon trim and the giant pockets, but the flowy-ness and waistless-ness of the dress seemed like it would hang awkwardly on me. But then I saw a bunch of photos online of other people wearing it and they all looked absolutely adorable so it went on my to-do list. When I went about making my own version, I ended up taking it in a bit more than I had intended to, but it ended up working out. I love how it’s still flowy without losing its shape. I also suspect that that’s at least partly due to my using a slightly thicker fabric than the original dress appears to be made of.

I used 1/4″ ivory satin ribbon for the trim, handsewn, and 1/2″ diameter buttons. They’re currently nonfunctional since I can easily get in and out of the dress without unbuttoning it and because of lazy. The pockets are sewn on at a slight angle and I keep thinking they’re uneven in the photos but on the dress they’re matched up so I think it’s just the way I’m standing.

I’m slightly bummed that it’s suddenly 90+ degrees every day because it’s waaay too hot for this dress. Boo.

60 Comments sewing - - - - -

60 thoughts on “Pocketses and ribbony trim”

  8. This gorgeous! I especially like the trim.

    I so know what you mean about everything else in your life getting in the way of sewing time. It’s been too long for me. Poo!

  19. This is gorgeous! Would be awesome if you could publish the pattern for this one 🙂

    1. I would love to except for the tiny detail that I have absolutely zero idea of how to do it. Which turns out to be not so tiny a detail hehe.

      1. How about posting a veryt simple drawing of the pattern pieces you drafted? That d be enough for us to give us an idea how to draft it ourselves. No pressure of course! So love it too.

  20. I recognized this right away – love Dear Creatures! Though I don’t own anything by them because I’m perpetually broke. It looks spot on! You did an awesome job!

    1. Aww thanks! Yeahh the whole broke-grad-student thing kind of feeds directly into my copy ALL the Dear Creatures dresses thing I have going on lately :]

  21. I recognized this right away – love Dear Creatures! Though I don’t own anything by them because I’m perpetually broke. It looks spot on! You did an awesome job!

  22. Such a cute shift dress! It looks great on you and I admire your creativity to just dive in and make a pattern from scratch.

  25. Oh a sewing date, I need to make one of those, stuff that can be done from the sofa is all that gets a look in at the moment! I love your dress, simple but some lovely extra features.

    1. Thanks! And yeah, small projects worked on while watching tv blearily is one thing, but there’s nothing like waking up early and knowing you have an entire day to sew until your back aches and your fingers are bleeding. (Ok that’s a bit dramatic but you know what I mean.. 🙂 )

  30. Pingback: Patterns for Copycatting | Peneloping

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