It’s that garment that’s been doing the rounds and now it’s a pattern: the Fleur dress and blouse by Fabric Godmother. I’ve seen plenty of hacks but was always too lazy to do it myself. So when a friend sent me the link to the pattern, I jumped straight in on the same day. And I must say I feel rather fashionable in this getup! Just need the Ganni shoes to go with it now, ha.
Fleur dress & blouse: pattern details
- The nicest feature is the placket on the left front behind the bows. Many of the RTW and hack versions don’t have this which is nice if you’re keen on showing some skin / your bra, but I imagine many people aren’t. In my photos I’ve got a thermal tee on underneath because I didn’t want to crush my sleeves and it’s still only 16 degrees today! despite being June. Having the placket lets me do that without showing the tee underneath.
- Bust darts: the B cup with sleeves (which I made) has no bust darts. The B cup sleeveless has bust darts, as do the D cup versions (both with and without sleeves).
- There’s a lot of gathering! Sleeve cap, sleeve cuff, and the gigantic peplum.
- The seam allowance is 1.5 cm. This was a struggle for me, I like a 1cm seam allowance and I always feel like it’s harder for me to get an accurate result with bigger seam allowances.
Sizing and fit
Fabric Godmother patterns are new to me. The pattern advised sizing down if between sizes due to a loose fit. I chose a straight UK size 8 (it goes up to size 30) which happens to be my RTW size also. Only change was to pre-emptively remove 1.5 cm length from the top bodice section because I know I have a short torso. I’m happy with how it worked out.
Fabric
4 years ago I bought this cotton seersucker stripe to make a top for my niece, and got some extra for myself as well. Since then it’s been sitting in my deep stash doing nothing! But I guess there’s something to be said about waiting for inspo. I like the combination of what I call “men’s shirting blue” that contrasts with the ruffles and bows. But I’m just a fan of this kind of stripe in general. Here is a blog post with a pic of a dress I made many years ago with embroidered yellow pineapples, and here is one of my IG posts with a button-down with pink embroidered pineapples!
Construction notes
- The ties are attached in the same place on both sides which makes sense of course. But when you tie a bow so the edges are flush, one side tends to be dragged down (see picture) so it’s almost impossible to have your neckline sitting evenly. It was a little better when I knotted it another way, but if I make the Fleur blouse again I’d probably put the ties on one side 1cm lower.
- The right front (no placket side) is just overlocked and folded back. I added a strip of stay tape for stability.
- The peplum is attached after the bodice is completed. I would have liked to first attach the peplum so it just becomes part of the bodice. Because …
- Then you can do a facing all around the back neckline / front of the bodice (stopping at the facing) for a clean finish.
- Photo shows the finishing as instructed. It still works and is easy to do as is, I just prefer something different.
- I would leave hemming the peplum until the end so you can put on some bottoms and check what length you’d like.
And that’s it for this one. I’m not so used to peplums and not tucking in my top, so I feel larger around my midsection than usual. If that’s something you are concerned about, maybe a no peplum version is something for you … easy enough to lengthen the top bodice or use a pattern like the Puff and Pencil tie top with the sleeve add-on.
Till next time
Kate x