Gemma’s Hughes/Davenport Dress!
My sunshine dress: A Hughes/ Davenport mash up.
Hi everyone, Hope you’re well! It’s been a few months since I was last on the blog, but I’m back today to tell you all about my Friday Pattern company mash up dress.
I was originally planning to make the True Bias Shelby dress, but after I couldn’t locate one of the pattern pieces, I shifted my idea to the Hughes dress by Friday Pattern Company. The Hughes is described as the “perfect everyday dress” and it has some interesting details, like the lace up tie back and the button down front. It’s not one for the faint hearted if you don’t like button holes haha! But don’t let that put you off.
I toiled the bodice of the Hughes first to check the fit – it’s quite close fitting so I would recommend toiling. One of the great things about the pattern is that it comes as a top as well, so I made this version as my toile. Luckily I found that I didn’t need to make any alterations straight out of the packet – I made the size medium, which is very close fitting, but if I wanted a more relaxed look I could easily go for the large. My measurements are as follows: B:37, W:31, H:41.
The Hughes has a large number of panels, making it quite a unique dress. The panels are super easy to sew and fit together really well. I decided I wanted to jazz up the sleeves a little bit, so used the pattern pieces from the Davenport dress, also by Friday Pattern Co. The sleeves fit in easily to the bodice as they’re gathered, so you can just gather them as much or as little as needed. I also added the little flounce as I just think it’s pretty cute. Initially I cut the sleeve too short for the look I was going for, so had to unpick it all and re-cut. Thank goodness I had enough fabric left!
When doing the buttonholes, I would suggest finding the fullest part of your bust and marking a buttonhole there, to prevent any gaping. You can then work up/down from there. I ended up making 13 buttonholes instead of 11 as I just felt they ended a little high up without the extra two. I actually had no problems at all with my button holes on this dress, whereas I had loads of issues on my toile! I guess it sometimes depends on what fabric you’re using.
When I saw this fabric on the Felicity Fabrics website, it really stood out to me. It’s a beautiful mustard viscose with a delicate white floral design all over it. It’s called Marilyn on the website. I’m calling it my sunshine dress as it really is bright and sunny. The fabric was a delight to sew with and I had no issues at all. I think there are a couple of slight pulls around the buttonholes, but other than that I have nothing to complain about! Felicity Fabrics have a number of beautiful viscoses on the website and any of them would work perfectly for this pattern.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading all about my Friday Pattern Co mash up dress and that it might inspire you to do a little pattern hacking of your own!
Until next time, take care and happy sewing! Gemma xx
