The StyleARC Danni Dolman dress was the last garment that I made when I was at Sewjourn.  And I rather think that it was one of the most successful!

The fabric is a poly/spandex from Spotlight, and has been sitting in my stash for some time. I have paired it with pattern after pattern but never cut it out. Finally it has had its moment! This dress is super simple, being just one pattern piece for the front and another for the back, but it is a fabric hog. Those cut on dolman sleeves – and the slightly angled front pattern piece that enables pleats at one side – mean that you need more than twice the dress length. Luckily I had just enough!

The pattern description is as follows: This Dolman sleeved dress features a slight boat neck, there are 4 tucks falling from the left side seam softly over the hip line making this dress easy to wear and such a simple dress to sew. Suitable for all seasons.

It really is that simple.  Make the pleats/tucks on one side, then sew the centre back seam (I didn’t have to do this as I cut the dress with the centre back seamline on the fold; it isn’t shaped at all), the shoulder/sleeve seams, and the side seams.  And do the hems.  So quick!  I stabilised the hem edges with fusible tape as I usually do, then turned them to the inside and stitched them in place on my machine with a twin needle.  After a quick press with the iron it all looked good!

Those are definitely my colours, and the wavy stripes and side pleats do a great job of disguising the wobbly bits that I prefer to keep to myself. I cut and sewed size 12 with no alterations, other than chopping about five inches off the length (I am 158cm tall). I am pleased with the resulting ease and fit. The sleeves narrow down nicely at the lower arm to balance the dolman shape.

The top of the front pattern piece is tilted to one side, so you can’t match the stripes up even if you tried. Which was rather satisfying in a weird way. I am so used to spending time trying to align stripes and patterns! For this dress I was able to just go for it.

Thanks to StyleARC for another great dress pattern. Speaking of great patterns, have you seen this month’s offerings? I love the new Kellie dress and this month’s freebie Fiona Knit Top ticks all the boxes for me too!  However, I do have a whole pile of their patterns waiting to be sewn at the moment.  I would love to sew myself a Jacinta Knit Dress before we head off on holiday to Thailand in a few weeks time – but in between full-time work and sewing bathers for the trip it isn’t likely to happen.  Yes, I did say full-time work – my husband was retrenched a week ago, so it’s back into the full-time workforce for me until he gets another job.  It’s the third time we’ve experienced retrenchment, and yes we’re lucky that my professional skills are very much in demand and I can easily ramp up to full-time work, but it doesn’t get any easier to deal with.