Scout Dress
What can I say? I LOVE Grainline’s Scout Woven Tee pattern. I’ve made six of them. Two for me and four as gifts! The Autumn chill arrived a few months ago and my Scout pattern was packed away. Then Nicola’s Scout Dress appeared on my blog reader and I knew I needed one too!
Forward thinking Nicola scheduled a Scout Tee to Dress Class at the Handmaker’s Factory and I couldn’t click on that ‘Buy Now’ button quick enough. I could have muddled through this at home myself, but I knew it would be much quicker with an expert on hand. And the idea of a full day of uninterrupted sewing… I was sold!
The class did not disappoint!
First up was pattern tracing and alterations. Nicola talked me through Jen’s Scout Full Back Pattern Tutorial and how to add length to the pattern. At times during the class I felt like I’d left my sewing brain at home! I must confess that the pattern preparation took me nearly a third of the class!
I decided to use some seemingly non-precious fabric to toile the dress. A light grey wool with a little stretch that I found at the Alannah Hill Outlet on Friday. It was marked as Gorman fabric. People, this fabric was a dream to sew with and I’ve decided the remaining two metres (thankfully I purchased four!) will be classified as precious. Not precious enough not to use, but precious enough not to be toiling a pattern with! The edges of the fabric don’t fray so there was zilch overlocking involved. Yah for speedier sewing!
My previous Scouts were a size 10, but they were the tiniest bit tight across the back, which was only really noticeable when driving the car! Apparently, a general rule of thumb is that if you’re using stretch fabric for a woven pattern, you’ll need to go down one size. I ignored this sage advice, thinking that my fabric didn’t have that much stretch and the stretch that it did have would eliminate the slight tightness across the back. What can I say, I was VERY wrong! Some ‘on the fly’ pattern alternations, with Nicola’s expert guidance, were successfully undertaken. I used a combination of pinning and basting to test my changes. The final changes were to sew a new armhole seams 1/2 inch from the original seams and to redo the sleeve seams an inch inside the existing seam.
I must admit, I wasn’t so sure about the volume in the dress, so when I got home from the class I measured it against my Gabby Dress (a pre-blogging make) and apart from the short sleeves versus long and the Scout having a more scooped neckline, the dresses are the same!
My Scout Dress has passed the ‘all day’ wearing challenge and I can see it was be on high rotation this winter. Oh how I love a good sack dress!
Pattern: Grainline’s Scout Woven Tee made into a dress utilising Jen’s Scout Full Back Pattern Tutorial
Size: 10
Fabric: 2 metres wool (with a little stretch) from the Alannah Hill Outlet
Alterations: Removed 1/2 inch from the front & back armholes and the sleeve head. Reduced sleeve underarm seams by 1 inch.
P.S. My camera gave up the ghost yesterday, so until I get it repaired or replaced, these phone photos will have to do 🙁
Love the dress and the fabric! I can’t even imagine a whole day uninterrupted sewing!
Thanks Ainsley. I couldn’t have imaged a whole day of sewing when I took up this hobby. Two years later, doing a six hour class is very achievable. Although, it did include three phone calls from my daughters about very trivial things!
Love it when you find something that just ‘WORKS’ for you. Lovely!
Thanks Lizzy.
Gorgeous! And it is the perfect background for a colourful accessory – lovely.
I can see this dress will be on high rotation this winter. I too see it as a blank canvas that requires accessorising… and a scarf sits so nicely in that scooped neckline.
Love comfy dresses that crank up the style-factor with an arty scarf. Very nice work!
Thanks Anne. This dress is going to allow me to give my extensive (ahem!) scarf collection a good outing.
As a fellow sack-lover, I think that it is great! And that fabric sounds like a real find. Like you, my camera gave up the ghost this week too, so it will be phone photos from me for a while as well.
Thanks Lara. They also had a lovely wool cashmire in a dark dark forest green that came home with me… I went camera shopping this arvo and now I’m all set with a new camera (which has a timer) and a tripod. I’m going to give taking my own blog photos a go!
Well I think it’s bloody marvellous!! 🙂
Thank-you fine teacher 🙂
Very nice, casual dress, I like it!
Thanks. I think I’ll wear it again today!
That grey wool is really nice! Was there much good fabric at alannah hill at the moment?
I was there two weeks ago and was disappointed, then on Friday I scored some great stuff. The cutting lady said the stock isn’t changing much, it’s just what’s been pulled to the top by other customers! I basically brought the all of the grey wool/stretch left on the roll. There was some wool/cashmire coating in either a dark dark forest green or black for $25 dollars a metre. I brought the green. It really is a lucky dip!
I love your dress just as much as I loved Nichola’s. How lucky to have her on hand to help you with the fitting.
Thanks Tracy. I was indeed spoilt to have Nicola to help. So many great sewing classes to do in Melbourne!
Alannah Hill outlet?!? OMG there is one in Sydney!! Thanks for the link, had no idea. I went into their shop in Newtown and asked if they sold fabrics and the surly shop girl said no. She could ‘ave bloody told me there was outlet!!
This looks great on you, and styled so well in these shots. I’m loving the fabric too. Nice make!
Unfortunately, the Gorman fabric at this place is rather rare – heaps more stuff from Dangerfield and Alanah Hill – and I’ve only every found fabric in single colours before. None of their beautiful patterned stuff. But I do live in hope. Let me know how you go at the Sydney version.
Anna, this is fabulous! I am having total dress envy here- what a perfect work frock!
Aw shucks…
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