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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
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Sewing Circle: Awesome paisley dress, but a super simple pattern

Welcome to Sewing Circle!  This one's a fun and easy puzzle to solve.  Take a look and see if you have any additional insights!  I got this question from Shevy...

Q: I love to sew but I would consider myself a beginner. I recently saw this dress from H&M and I wondered if you knew of a pattern that might get me the same look. I need something with a bit of a longer skirt, though. 

A: I have a pattern recommendation for you that should be pretty simple. I would recommend a basic bodice pattern like Simplicity 2444 for the bodice and sleeves.

It looks like the original has a waistband, but you can probably omit it and get the same look, especially if you use a bold print like that paisley! It also has a slightly higher waist than 2444, but that’s easy to fix. In the center front in particular (I know that pattern well!), trim off the center front dip (when the bodice is folded in half, so both sides are symmetrical). Depending on your height, you may want to cut the bodice even shorter, but on me it hits just slightly above my natural waist.

You don’t need a pattern for the skirt; you just need to tear one to two panels of fabric, depending on how full you want the skirt, just a few inches longer than you’d like. if you want it to be 25” long, for example, you’d need at least 27” to allow for a .5” seam allowance and at least a 1” hem with .5” turn-under. I would add 3-4 inches to the desired length, myself. You’ll just sew the two pieces together at the selvages, turn under and pin the hem, hem it, and then cut a slit in the center back for the zipper. Then gather at the top edge and sew right sides together to the bodice!

If that’s unclear, there are probably tons of simple gathered skirt tutorials out there… I did one a while back you can see here. Of course the part about the waistband doesn’t apply.

Hope those suggestions and instructions help you out! I’m sure there are other patterns that would work for the bodice and sleeves as well.  Should be a fun project!

Readers, have you seen the perfect pattern?  Have you made anything like this before?

6 comments

  1. I love the paisley idea. The modern fabric and color help.
    Simplicity patterns are the ones I started out with many years ago. I believe they are the simplest read and follow.
    Your pattern suggestion is great. You can always add length or take away length.

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  2. Looks like that would be a great easy project and would look a lot like the original!

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  3. I tried this dress on at H&M, and I plan on making it because of how much love it. - Bethany

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    Replies
    1. Oh, cool! It's always fun to see the original up close. I love doing that when I go into Anthro every once in a while.

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