Oh, I love a cool draped dress on a baking summers day.  The temperature was over 35 degrees at 9am, and now (2.00pm) the temperature gauge on the back verandah reads 41.8 degrees.  After hearing the weather forecast, last night I popped a photo up on Instagram asking for input about which colour of rayon jersey I should use to make a You Sew Girl! Draped T-dress.  The vote was unanimous.

Although I am also tempted to give the mustardy yellow a whirl too…

I first made two of these dresses around three years ago, when Nikki was developing and toiling the pattern. They both had a huge amount of wear, and recently became frequent rotation items in a friend’s wardrobe. So I definitely needed to make myself another! Blame Anna.

This is one of the simplest sews around, in terms of pattern pieces – one – and construction. Sew up the shoulder seams, sew up the side seams, turn up hems and twin needle stitch them down, and in this case bind the neckline. But the magic is all in the drafting. I sewed this at size Small throughout, with no alterations other than using a neckline binding instead of turning and topstitching. Next time I will cut a wider strip for the binding – this one really is much too narrow. I really like the small extended sleeves that are part of this pattern. Many of the drape tops and dresses that I’ve seen just leave an opening for one arm. I prefer the way that the sleeves make the dress hang from the body, without constricting movement. Yes, I’ll be making another Draped T-Dress. Sooner rather than later.