The Hepburn Shirtwaister.

If you follow me on Instagram then you’ll know I’m a sucker for a Shirtdress, I love the look of a collar and how easy it is to look pulled together when you’re wearing a dress.

I’ve made several in the past, Sew Over It’s Vintage Shirtdress, Mcalls 6696 and simplicity 1880 but I couldn’t resist buying the Hepburn Shirtwaister pattern by Now and Then Patterns from Til The Sun Goes Down. The options of those collars was too tempting – look how gorgeous they are:

The pattern is described as follows:

‘This is a classic dress with echoes of the late 1940's/ early 1950’s but updated for today. There are 2 collar versions, 1 angular and one curved. There are 3 sleeve choices – A short capped one, a straight bracelet length or one with a feature cuff. Small pleats add fullness to the skirt both front and back. And last but not least there are skirt side pockets. ‘

£18, sizes 8-24 (bust 33”-49”, Waist 26”-42”). 

I'm so happy with the finished result: 

The pattern is very well drafted however both collar styles are on one page so you will need to do some tracing in order to save both options. I did make a few alterations to the pattern:

• Cut the front skirt on the fold and omitted the buttons – this was necessary as my fabric was only 42” wide & I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the skirt pieces as single layers.
• Added a 12” invisible zip on the left-hand side & omitted the pocket.
• Added 2cm in length to the cap sleeves (personal choice)
• Decreased the length of the shoulder seams, I find this is a common alteration I have to make otherwise sleeves tend to fall off my shoulders.
• Shortened the bodice by 3cm, again, another common alteration for me as I’m short waisted. 
• Added 4 belt loops on the waistline. 

I made a toile of the bodice too which turned out to be a very wise move as the pattern instructions aren’t that detailed – I’m glad I got to practise attaching the collar before using my nice fabric. I think that if you’ve made a couple of shirts / shirtdresses before then you’d be ok but this pattern isn’t for a beginner sewer. There isn’t anything too complicated however, the instructions presume that you know a lot about general garment construction and I found the illustrations a little confusing.

That said, look how beautiful the collar looks from behind, I love the way it just crosses over before rising up the neck and folding over. It might be tricky, but it looks gorgeous. My toile had the rounded collar and my final version had the pointed.

From my toile I can also say that the bust sizing was accurate, but the waist is quite generous. I took a few cm’s off and, if I’m honest, I probably could have taken a couple more but I decided the overall fit was fine and, with a belt, the excess on the waist wouldn’t show. The skirt is midi length which suits me just fine – my walk to and from work takes me along a few windy streets so I’m happy to have the extra fabric to help stop any knicker flashing moments!

There are some lovely finishes on the inside of this dress; the sleeve hems are finished with facings and the back neck is enclosed in binding. 

 The fabric is Yacht Club by Michael Miller which I bought from Modes 4 U

Of course I cut another version immediately after finishing this one! This time I had enough fabric to make the dress as per the original pattern with buttons all the way down the front. The stripe floral fabric was a purchase from The Knitting and Stitching show from Higgs and Higgs. I made the curved collar version and added the optional tie belt - I love this version and it's perfect for the current hot weather we've had!

As you can tell, I love this pattern and can see myself making many more of these dresses over the summer - in fact I'm already planning another version with a full pleated skirt for my holiday next month! 

I hope you've all been enjoying the sunshine, happy sewing! 

Hannah x