Terrific Summer Dress Patterns To Sew

I’ve been wanting to write a post like this for a while. I just wanted to feature some of my favorite summer dresses that I’ve made previously and give you some pattern information or information about the process of making these. These are some terrific summer dress patterns to sew.

Vogue 8997

I made this dress a few years ago and I still have it and love it. I’ve seen some other bloggers and sewists use this pattern lately although I don’t know if it’s still available. You can read the original post here.

I did find that when making this dress, I had to reconfigure the layout in order to have room for the pattern pieces to fit.

BurdaStyle 05/2019 #107

Another favorite. pattern of mine is this BurdaStyle Magazine dress from 05/2019 #107.

BurdaStyle magazine pattern 05/2019 #107 in lemon and navy blue — **BS 05/2019 #107**

I made modifications to the pattern with this dress (short-sleeves and added pockets). That original post is here. I truly love this dress! It’s a fairly basic shirtdress style, but I think my love of this comes from the lovely lemon fabric. It’s a stretch cotton (it’s almost sold out, but here’s the link from fabric.com). The fabric has a good weight for a dress like this and washes really well.

BS 05/2019 #107 in navy and lemom print back view

Simplicity 8384

My last one for this post is one that I’ve made twice. It’s Simplicity 8384.

As you can see, the pattern had another number when I first bought it, then they changed the number when it was issued later.

S8384 front view in green and white — **S8384**

This one is made in a green polka dot stretch cotton.

S8384 front view in ankara fabic — **S8384**

The last one I made was in this African wax print. Both of these are cool and comfortable to wear in the summer. The last post I wrote about this pattern/dress is here.

The one thing about all of these patterns is that the styles are all classic and uncomplicated. That’s why they can be made from a classic print, a more vibrant print, or just about any solid fabric you could choose. That’s another reason they are favorites for me. I really like versatile patterns and these all fit that category for me.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas for some things you might want to make for yourselves. Any of these patterns (or something similar) are great options!

*This post contains affiliate links.

My First BurdaStyle Dress!

This is my first time making a BurdaStyle Magazine dress. I have seen many that I liked and would love to have, but I have never attempted it before. In all honesty, I don’t think I would have had the ability to do this even a few years ago. I’m not talking about sewing skill necessarily. I mean the knowledge to trace the pattern and get it right. And most important, the confidence to actually put it together and be confident all the way through the process. That’s important. If you start out not believing that you can complete a project, you won’t.

I used this lemon-on-navy stretch cotton that I bought from fabric.com (it’s no longer available but I can link something similar).

For my version (yes, it’s the same pattern as the first picture), I made a few changes. I: 1) raised the neckline, 2) added in-seam pockets, and 3) made it short sleeved. I was contemplating making a belt to go with it, but I like the comfort and ease of wearing it as is (it’s gathered at the waist). It gets really hot and humid where I live, so the last thing I want for summer is anything that is going to make me feel constricted.

In order to raise the neckline (about 3″), I redrew the front neckline which actually made the front wider than the back at the shoulder. I just gathered the front slightly to meet to back so the shoulder seams were even.

For the pockets, (I couldn’t believe the dress didn’t have them. Most BurdaStyle dresses seem to have pockets) I almost always use the same pattern piece. It’s a pocket from a pattern for pajamas. I retraced the piece and made it a little smaller so it would be more appropriate for this dress. Then I keep the new piece with the traced pattern pieces.

With making the dress short-sleeved, I just figured out where on my arm I wanted the sleeve to stop. I didn’t widen the sleeve or anything like that since it’s a loose enough sleeve. No other alterations for that were necessary.

As I said in the beginning, having the confidence to even start a project is important. But not doubting yourself during the process is also key. This is one of the few things (and the only one from BurdaStyle Magazine) where I did not make a muslin first! I’m so glad this turned out as well as it did and I’m very happy with the results.

As always, I encourage you to give your own project challenge a try. You might be surprised by how well things turn out!

Here is a link for a similar fabric from fabric.com. The one I used is no longer available. Click here

*affiliate links in post

Summer Dress and Sewing Plans

This is something I planned on making for about the last 3 months or so. I wanted to enter a contest and this was one of the patterns that could be used as an entry. Since I already had it, I thought “no problem”. The entry wasn’t due until July 1st. That was before I got sick in June which put my sewing off for about a week or so. So, on June 29th, I decided to go for it. Miraculously, I made this in 2 days!

Simplicity 8384

This is Simplicity 8384. I used a stretch cotton twill that’s fairly light-weight. This is View C which is the shortest of the dress lengths. I was concerned about making the handkerchief hem (I thought it would be much more difficult), but everything worked out well. As you know if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I love pockets so this was another reason for me to love this dress.

The dress features elastic in the back to help hold it in and give it some shape. It just helps to accentuate the waist. Otherwise it would be fairly shapeless and I don’t wear garments like that. It’s just not a good look for me. Since I’m sort of rectangular shaped, I like anything that makes me look like I have a waist!

I didn’t need to change the pattern in any way. The only thing I did differently was to use sew-on snaps instead of buttons. It just seemed that there was enough going on with the polka dots. I didn’t want to add anything extra to the dress.

This is a perfect little casual day dress that’s great for summer.

Now as for future sewing plans, I’m in the process of making myself some shorts, then on to a couple of T-shirts. I have a new pattern I want to try for that. I feel like I’m getting back on track with my sewing and blogging so I need to continue and forge ahead. I made good progress for the first half of the year. Now that we are into the second half (unbelievable), I want to continue working towards my goals and sharing my journey along the way.

Until next time…