TL; DR – DO NOT DO THIS PATTERN IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER. ALSO, LINEN SHEETS ARE ROUGH TO SEW WITH.

My mom asked me a while ago to find a pattern and make her a dress that looks like this:

So I asked in the The Foldline Facebook group, and was recommended to find this vintage Simplicity pattern, Simplicity 7578, which I did find!

I found a striped blue light-weight cotton, and i was able to make the dress, including figuring out how to make the front pleat. It was perfect, and it turned out great! My mom loved it!

I fell in love with the dress, but it only came in two sizes, neither of them were large enough for me.

Enter the Autumn dress from Style Arc.

I REALLY wish I had known about this tutorial, because Style Arc instructions that come with the pattern are notoriously sparse. If I hadn’t already made the dress for my mom, I might have given up, but at least I knew mostly how to do a collar, the facing, the pleat, etc. Because I used linen sheets, I decided to actually burrito the yoke, rather than keep it as only one piece. And next time I’m using a different pocket template to make pockets that aren’t…tiny.

I finished it just in time to wear to my trip to New Orleans, where it is going to be HOT and HUMID, so a light, flowing linen dress seemed like the perfect make. Here’s hoping I don’t ruin it with sweat!