Hello sewists!

Autumn (and for others spring) is on it’s way so you might be thinking about a seasonal revamp of your wardrobe! And to help you on your way, here is a brand new and completely FREE sewing pattern – the Flippy A-line Dress. This easy-to-wear and easy-to-make pattern is available here as downloadable PDF and come as a UK size 12. Don’t worry if this isn’t your size – there are tips and measurements for re-resizing it up or down just here. It takes only 1.5m of fabric.

The Flippy A-line is a loose fitting V neck dress with darts at the bust, short sleeves and a slightly dropped waist. The A-line skirt that finishes just above the knee. It is a fairly straight up and down shape that you can throw together without a zip.

It’s made here in a gorgeous orange and black fabric supplied by Sew Essential  from the John Kaldor range.  It has a heavy crepe feel with a slight sheen – the quality is beautiful, hence the reason it hangs so well.  A simple cut dress like this can take a strong pattern and there are plenty of lovely ones to be found in this range on the Sew Essential dressmaking fabrics page. There are just a couple of the others I particularly like shown below, but the range is pretty extensive.

A-line shapes have definitely taken off, over the last year or two. I’m thrilled because it has always been the most flattering for a pear-shaped figure like mine. I always like to keep them above the knee to stop them looking frumpy. I know it’s cool to have them down to mid-calf but it just makes me feel like my mother.

I haven’t done detailed instructions for this dress as it is fairly self explanatory to put together:

• Join the should seams first and put in the darts.
• Attach the facing.
• Sew up your side seams and join the three sections of your skirt together.
• Then, with right sides together attach your skirt to your bodice.

There is a lot of scope for doing something a bit more exciting with a stripe, or any directional pattern like this delicious blue brush stroke fabric shown above. With a bit of clever cutting you can create a chevron effect. If you turn the sewing pattern onto the bias of the fabric and cut the bodice as two separate pieces, the stripe will form a lovely flattering V shape. Not only that but you get all the benefits of a bias fit.

How to do it?

When cutting out your pattern you would normally align the arrows on the pattern with the grain of the fabric (what’s this? – see here) but if you turn the pattern round 45 degrees as shown in the diagram (either direction is fine but it will affect which way the chevron goes) then your pattern is then lying on the bias. If you do the same for the skirt then you will get the lovely hang of a bias cut skirt and a fabulous zig-zag going around your skirt.

If you haven’t tried this before then just be aware that cutting patterns on the bias does take up more fabric. How much exactly depends on the scale and type of the pattern, but its worth the extra cost it may entail because you get a lovely fit with maximumcomfort and movement.