Autumn Maxi Dress

My most recent make is my favourite Autumn dress of all time.  My sartorial holy grail for any season is comfy meets pretty. It’s all about comfort for me, but I don’t want that to be at the expense of looking somewhat put together.

This dress can be worn day or evening and to be honest at a push I reckon it’s comfy enough to sleep in! The secret- I designed it to be made in viscose elastane jersey.

For those of you unfamiliar with fabric types, jersey is knitted fabric. The fact that the fibres of this fabric are knitted means that structurally the fabric has a good amount of stretch. Throw some elastane content into the mix and you have an incredibly stretchy, forgiving and comfort focused fabric. The main fibre in this instance is viscose which creates a wonderfully drapey cloth. Did you know that viscose is also naturally breathable and has one of the lowest environmental impacts of all the fabrics out there. Winning all round? I think so.

This dress could easily be styled in a variety of ways. During this transitional time of year my favourite thing to pair it with with has been my veja trainers and various hand knits. The September days here in England have been starting out really chilly and autumnal but by the afternoon it’s like summer is seriously attempting to have its last hoorah. Lose the hand knit, grab the sunnies and the outfit works as well for school pick up as it did at drop off. Once the Autumn takes a firmer hold my knits will get chunkier and my trainers will be switched out for handknit socks and boots.

Chilly legs you ask? Well maybe a little but it’s worth it for the break from eternal jeans.

I’m loving all the moody florals that have been popping up so far this season so this fabric from Minerva crafts was exactly what I was looking for. The black background paired with the autumn toned flora felt perfect for all the autumn prairie styles that I have been coveting.

I love the demure length, contrasted by the long slits. The deep v neckline is flattering and pairs well with a variety of cardigan styles.

I constructed the whole dress on my Decor 3050 which is a combined coverstitch and overlocker machine. I made the majority of the seam allowances 6mm so stitching this together with a 4 thread overlocker stitch was a one step process with no additional trimming required. A cover stitch machine makes sewing jersey to a professional standard a breeze but jersey garments can also be sewn with a beautiful finish on nearly all regular domestic sewing machines.

How do you feel about the idea of a jersey maxi dress like this for fall? Have you made anything similar recently?

Thanks for reading

Ami