You’ve seen the tween version of the Madeit Patterns Groove dress on the blog before.  I sewed myself a couple of versions too, months ago, and have actually worn them quite a lot.  It’s taken a while for this blog post to be written!

This pattern has plenty of options. From their website:  The Groove Dress is an utterly covetable swing dress made using knit fabric, with short or long sleeves and a high low or straight hemline.  And as if that wasn’t enough, we went crazy to offer you five, yes five different neck options. Round, scoop, slash, cowl or hooded, whatever takes your fancy. The combinations are endless (well nearly, you do the maths).  Comfortable and practical, it even looks good over a baby bump.  It’s quick and easy to sew, which means you’ll be using this pattern over and over and over again.   Come on, machines at the ready, time to get your Groove on.

Both mine were winter versions, so long sleeved. The orange is a lovely mid-weight viscose knit from Clear It. This was great fabric to work with, with beautiful handle and drape. I included a centre back seam for fabric conservation reasons.

This is a super fast garment to sew. All construction was on the overlocker, with hems twin needled on the machine. I chose to sew the high-low hemline, which is delightfully swishy.

I chose to sew the cowl neckline. It uses a fair bit of fabric, as it is a double layer, and is shaped so that it is narrower where it attaches to the body of the dress.

The other version of the dress was sewn in striped ponte from Spotlight. If you think that it looks familiar, I have actually sewn four garments in this fabric. It’s really a soft and stretchy double-knit. This was a slightly slower garment to sew because I needed to stripe match.

This time I cut the dress with the back on the fold, and used the even hemline option.

I went with the scoop neckline for this version. It’s not terribly scooped, really. There are also options for a slash or round neckline, and I suspect that either of those would be too high for my taste.

This is a great staple pattern if you like a knit dress without waistline seams or much waist shaping. I like that it fits well through the shoulders and bust, then flares out from the body to provide comfort and style.

And it’s a great layering piece for winter!