The Makers Atelier Slip Dress

For another holiday make this is The Slip Dress by The Makers Atelier.

I’ve been looking for a slip over dress (in other words with no closures) to make up in linen to mirror the linen ones I used to buy from Next in years gone by for my holiday.

I wanted a dress breezy enough to hang away from the body but still with the suggestion of some shape.

I was initially taken by this images of the Slip Dress on The Makers Atelier Site.

However, when I received the pattern there was no vertical seam down the front bodice as shown on this particular image. I hadn’t realised it was a hack.

I had some white linen I wanted to use and I knew that it could look like a shapeless night dress if I was not careful.

So, I added a seam to the centre of both front and back bodice pieces but I didn’t stop there, adding seams to the middle of the front and back skirt too.

You see, the embroidery on the blue Maker’s Atelier slip dress image had given me an idea.

In the spur of the moment, I also mirrored the v neck at the front onto the rear bodice piece before basting my pieces together for a quick try on.

I made up the outside shell UK size 10 in accordance with my bust and hip measurement, knowing that my thicker waist wouldn’t matter in this silhouette. As predicted by my worst fears (yes, so dramatic!), it did initially look like a sack on me. Note : I didn’t take photos of the sack, these are all finished garment images

The first fix was to move the under bust darts more towards the centre, actually pointing at my boobs and not my shoulders. This made a huge difference.

Then to add some waist shaping but knowing I still wanted to get this over my head, I made some narrow waist darts to the back bodice and skirt pieces. It was much improved.

I made a forward shoulder adjustment, well as much as I could with the available seam allowance.

I also took the opportunity to shorten the dress drastically by some 6 inches.

I took apart all the pieces and drew on, in heat erasable pen, the line where I wanted to place my embroidery – the first time I had used an embroidery stitch from my machine. After trialling stitches, I realised that turning down the tension and going a little slower gave a better effect. Viola!

The bodice is lined for a nice clean finish, but I also lined the skirt too, without which the skirt did not look as bright white as the top. I used a fine cotton white lawn to line it. It is like getting into the smoothest of smooth bed linen.

I’m thrilled with the final dress. From a piece of white linen (linen mix, probably) picked up for less than £5 from the bins at Abakhan and a little patience improving the fit, I have a smashing holiday dress.

Love, Lucie xx