I’ve been wearing my simplified maxi True Bias Southport dress a lot during this lovely weather we’ve had* this summer and it occurred to me that I never blogged it despite taking photos last year. A few snaps of it have made the odd appearance whenever I’ve mentioned my love of the Southport but I’ve never shared any details.
*Had being the operative word – at least in my little bit of the world. Me and the manfriend are going to Green Man festival next weekend so I’m hoping the sunshine comes back for that.
But anyway, back to my Southport dress.
This was one of my last minute makes before we went to Cyprus last year – I think I hemmed it the morning we were due to drive to Gatwick. It’s another Southport dress with all of the interesting Southport bits taken off. So I omitted the button band and cut the bodice on the fold, I left off the skirt slit and swapped the drawstring for an elastic waist. It’s a slightly more flared skirt too. I need to alter the skirt pattern piece really, I just swizzled the pattern pieces out while I was cutting out.
The fabric is a really nice feeling viscose I bought from Oh Sew Crafty. It’s a good quality viscose considering it’s super cheap – £4.20/m. It’s just that little bit more stable and nicer to work with than some of the other cheap viscose I’ve used. This colourway is sold out but they still have a tan version. I met up with the lovely @sewistella last weekend for coffee and a browse in Lee Mill Fabrics. They had a light background colourway of this fabric there and I was quite tempted but managed to resist. My willpower must have been particularly strong as I resisted loads of tempting fabric and only actually bought a pair of tassels to turn into earrings and some knicker elastic.
I didn’t have time for french seams so the seams are all overlocked, which made this a really quick sew. I did everything up to the hem in one evening session and then levelled the skirt hem and hemmed it the next day. The neckline and armholes are bound with self bias tape. I used my favourite binding method, which I think is called a french binding – what is it with me and french finishes? It’s the method where you fold the bias strip in half lengthways, sew both raw edges to the right side of your garment and then turn it all to the inside and stitch it down. Here’s a tutorial from Made by Rae.
The details
Pattern: True Bias Southport dress ish
PDF or Printed: PDF
How many pages: 51
A0 file included? No, only US copyshop
Measurements: At time of photos, Bust 39″ – Waist 32″ – Hips 41.5″ – Height 5’2″
Size made: 6, which is massively sized down. The finished bust measurement for the 6 is actually 38″ so I’m not entirely sure how I fit into the dress…
Alterations:
The same fit alterations I made to the bodice for my first version: I moved the shoulder seam forward by 2cm, raised the front neckline by about 1.5cm and shortened the skirt about 4″.
On this version did a small makeshift swayback adjustment as I was cutting the dress out by pivoting the bodice back pattern piece. I also tweaked the front shoulder seam to fix some neckline weirdness – I just cut a smidge off the front shoulder at the neckline, tapering to nothing at the shoulder point. I think this is a hollow chest adjustment.
In terms of style alterations:
- I cut the bodice on the fold to omit the button band,
- Made an elastic channel out of the waist seam instead of the drawstring channel, and
- used a slit-less slashed and spread version of the skirt.
Fabric used: I think I used nearly 3m of 140cm wide viscose but I’ve got some quite big scraps leftover that I’m hoping to get a top out of.
Another version?
It wouldn’t be a shock. I think I might make a “Scoutport” next though, using the Grainline Scout tee for the top and the Southport skirt.
Any changes next time?
Maybe but I’m not sure what yet. Hopefully I’ll have lost some weight by then (I’ve been running 3-4 times a week) and I won’t need to make any fit changes. If I haven’t then I should probably add a bit of ease.
Ooh, in Southport related news, Kelli has now released it as a paper pattern, which should be good news for any PDF haters who fancied the pattern.
I think that’s it from me for today. I’m probably going to disappear into my sewing room now and spend some time working on my Chi-town chino trousers. How about you, what’s on your sewing table at the moment? Are you still sewing summer clothes or have you started thinking about autumn yet?