The Staple Dress

I’m not sure how I ran into this pattern…maybe from a blog…maybe from Instagram. Either way, I got sucked into the craze.

The pattern is by April Rhodes. This is a wonderfully written pattern. I had no issues at all. The dress is pretty easy to begin with, but everything is outlines and explained. It doesn’t assume that you know everything there is about garment sewing. I’ve seen patterns that just say, “attach facing.” Seriously? WTF does that mean? But this pattern definitely doesn’t do that.

My favorite part is the drop hem. I’ve been wanting a drop hem dress for awhile, but I’ve never really found one in stores that I liked. This is the perfect drop hem because it’s not a huge drop. I’m not a fan of those. It’s so feminine and cute.

My one issue with the pattern is that the sizes are quite large. I made an extra small and it’s probably more along the the lines of a small. I need at least half an inch off of each side…probably more. But that’s easily fixable and it doesn’t look bad with a belt. I really liked her instructions for the shirring. I’ve never shirred before and it was fun. I think I probably needed to wind my bobbin a little tighter so the shirring gathered more, but I’ll probably never wear this dress without a belt, so I wasn’t going to mess with it.

I had the material lying around. I purchased it at Hancocks a long time ago. It was super cheap. It’s very lightweight. It kind of feels like cotton, but it’s definitely not. I think it’s mostly polyester because when I put my hot iron on it, it shriveled. I quickly learned to turn my iron down. It doesn’t feel like polyester though. It feels breathable. Anyway, it’s perfect for the drop hem because it’s so light and it will be a great summer dress.

If you want to see more of The Staple Dress, check out The Staple Dress Flickr Group.

Lastly, since I like the little things, the women who clean my condo left the end of my toilet paper roll in a design.

Isn’t that awesome? I felt like I lived in a hotel. They are AMAZING and there’s nothing better than coming home to a perfectly clean home.