Several of you sent me a link to this PatternReview review (by moss) of the Butterick 4790 wrap dress. (You may have to log in or join PatternReview to read the review — I can't remember.)
Please stop for a moment and enjoy the pure, unadulterated awesome that is this dress, okay? No, really, stop and take it in. Ahhhhhh.
It's really such a good dress, and I'm ashamed to say I haven't made mine yet. (It's the not knowing where to put the pockets that is holding me back.) And in spending time tidying up the sewing room this weekend I discovered I have at least three copies of this pattern (I guess I bought it every time it was on $1.99 sale, thinking I'd have to really fuss with it to solve the pocket problem) so I really have no excuse.
I had no excuse to be tidying up the sewing room, either, given all the other stuff I should be doing right now, but it had reached that stage where small children would wander in and vanish without a trace (except, late in the night, you could sometimes hear the sound of someone furtively using expensive sewing shears to cut paper), and it was making me itchy. So I finished sorting out all of my sewing patterns into binders. Expect a picture when I find my camera-battery charger. In the meantime, while you're waiting, go click on the image above to read the review of this pattern.
A Dress A Day 
I just made this dress a couple of weeks ago and I love it!! The one thing I’m wondering about is if I should somehow put a little extra weight on the front part of the skirt (or attach it to the back part of the skirt)….I’m finding that when I’m walking around alot (carrying my basket) that the front part of the skirt works its way up, and up, and up. Anyone else have this problem? Could just be me…maybe I waddle too much! 🙂
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I’ve got several copies of this pattern hoarded, too, but it’s lack of time, not pockets, that’s holding me up. The pockets thing doesn’t phase me: I could do patch pockets, or I could assemble the skirt out of three pieces and do in-seam pockets, or I could do that weird pocket I do sometimes that’s like a Colonial pocket except that it’s set into the skirt below the waist seam and opens with a slit in the outside of the skirt. Lots of pocket options.
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I only have 2 copies of this pattern also bought on sale and purchased in duplicate because of memory lapse. Since I no longer sport a 26″ waist I’d use the darker fabric on the outside for the side slimming effect. Thanks for sharing! I’m now inspired to sew it up and finding 5 yards in the stash in NoT a problem!
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Yes, this dress is wonderful, truly well done.
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I have a Question of Great Importance! On the pattern itself it looks like it’s sleeveless. But this lady has more of a cap-sleeve thing working on her and I wonder: Did she expand the pattern? Does it really make a little bit of a cap sleeve? I CanNot do the sleeveless thing but I love love love this dress! I’ve never added kimono sleeves without a pattern. tips?
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wow. love this.
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I just made this pattern a week ago. The sleeves are not cap, but they, and the shoulders, are pretty wide. I narrowed mine a good deal.Almost everyone’s I’ve seen has had that cap look to it, now that I think about it.
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kristen–there are no sleeves, but the shoulder do come out further than most sleeveless things. It does look like she got her dress to wrap tighter around her than mine does perhaps, as I have more open beneath the armpit than this sewer looks to have.If you follow the link to Pattern Review there are a dozen or reviews there with photos and info on how people altered the pattern (most people had to put in wider seams at the shoulders to pull the dress up).Mine is the large navy gingham!
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To Barb – on the sheat part riding up – yeah, me too. I think I am going to make anoher one. Maybe sew small washers in the hem? As for the cap sleeve. Yes, it does kind of create a cap sleeve. I made my dress too big. Next one I will go down a size. It caps n the arm area — I pin it. I also Had to move my button in the back over some or it would have been way to loose. The next one I do I will also trim in wider bias tape. I’m thinking of doing wool or courdoroy for winter and wearing a long sleeve t underneath. As for lovely polka-dotty fabric ww.reprodepot.com has some nice ones — a little expesive though…
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Barb…Yes! It drove me so crazy that I swept it off to Goodwill. Which is a shame because it was flattering and comfortable as long as I was standing perfectly still. I’ll be anxious to see if anyone comes up with a solution.I wonder if heavier/slicker fabric (I used quilting weight cotton)would work better.
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Kristen, I am so with you on the No Sleeveless Thing. I have an enourmous crush on this pattern but haven’t bought it, and probably never will, because I can’t figure out how to sleeve it (which is an even bigger issue than the No Pockets Concern. I figure a dress like this is far too pretty to trifle itself with things like keys and a drivers license). Oh well. And it drives me nuts that pretty much ALL of the vintage-reproductions the pattern companies are releasing… nary a sleeve to be seen. Maybe when fall/winter comes around…
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfU7UG8s4eQIf you want to feel encouraged about your sewing room, check this out. My guilty conscience was immediately assuaged.Erin, you don’t need to buy multiple copies of patterns: what I do is trace the original using medical examination table paper. It comes on a roll and is just transparent enough. I then make my adjustments on this copy, using the original for reference. It can seem like a hassle, but every time I skip this step I end up mad at myself. It’s also good to do this with vintage patterns so that they are preserved.
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Thank you for the tip on medical paper. I was at the big box J store looking for pattern paper (can’t remember the official name of it) and the sales people were trying to sell me interfacing…
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Beth, I have used interfacing to trace patterns on, and I actually really like it. Get the non-gluey-kind with the lines printed on it… really cheap, and easy to come by without robbing a hospital. I like the grid lines for lengthening/shortening pattern pieces.
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My mom used to trace all her patterns on interfacing…she’ll be 60 this year her mom would be almost 100 if still alive. I think it’s a thrifty thing of the past. Interfacing holds up so much better than the crummy tissue patterns are made.I wish this dress had a deeper scoop neckline–otherwise I love it.
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Kristen I don’t think kimono sleeves would be right. I think their flowiness would compete with the pretty front of the skirt.I think moss might have had a great idea by using bias tape. Perhaps it weights the skirt well?
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I’ve made this dress three times now, and I haven’t found a way to stop the front panel from riding up yet. This is the only reason it’s not quite my Perfect Pattern. Otherwise I’d be making it in different fabrics and wearing it forever! I like the idea of wearing a long sleeve tee underneath for the winter.The shoulders do seem to come out looking like cap sleeves, they are extraordinarily wide. I made the top two sizes smaller than the skirt, and it fitted much better – I think the pattern allows for a lot more bust than I have!
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Claire – I have A LOT of Bust and like I said earlier – my dress was HUGE! I’m going to go down a size on the next one. (Anohter wierd thing for me – the front panel I had to make the waist smaller. The overskirt was fine. Go figure.)
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Am I the only one totally freaked out by the ghostly sounds of sewing shears on paper. Man Erin, you should write horror! (shudders)It’s a People Under the Stairs flashback!
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On comment on polka dots. I found out today, Polka dots became popular in Flamenco dancing because of the Gypsies. Gypsies love the moon. Polka Dots remind them of the moon. Isn’t that lovely? It may just be a myth, but it makes bolka dots that much more embraceable. Maybe wee should rename them luna dots?
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Yeah- that pattern is some kind of cute, and the polka dots some kind of cute-est.I’d have to work on bringing the neckline down, or I’d look like The Chest That Filled the Prairies. Hmmm, maybe as a dissertation chapter finishing present…
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I’ve made this pattern before, but I don’t really wear the dress, even though it fits okay. It’s just not friendly to a bicycle centric life like mine. Unless you like flashing the bike shorts you’re wearing underneath to one and all.
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very tiny comment from a daily reader…couldn’t you put the pockets on the front panel, under the great flowy circle panel? the weight of whatever you’re keeping in your pockets would help to keep the front panel down, and the great flowy panel would hide the pockets.not that you would want to hide pockets, of course…
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This dress has been popular on Sew Retro and I hadn’t considered making it until I found the pattern at a thrift store the same day you posted this. Can’t resist it for 69 cents.
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WOW oh my goodness! I am famous on the internets! *fans self* I am just so flattered and honored! I made this dress for fun and love and it has turned out to have gotten so much attention. Thank so much Ms. Dress-A-Day. I check on your blog regularly and my heart just about stopped when I saw my picture there!Re: The pocket problem.. In my opinion you would have to create a side seam in the “back” piece (the piece that wraps around to the front) and put the pockets there. Nowhere else would really work, I think. Cheers everyone! Thanks for the nice comments and for really making my whole day–week–year!!!
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I made that dress many years ago and maybe it was the combo of fabrics, maybe it was me, but I was very disappointed. It’s like two different dresses attached attached at the shoulder, and they don’t play well together when you start to move around. I was forever twitching the front skirt back into place; it kept creeping inbetween my legs as I walked and I was being ladylike too. Additionally, there’s no way to put a petticoat underneath the achieve the silhouette in the design sketch unless you attach it to the back half’s waist seam. As much as I admire the retro patterns in Vogue and Butterick catalogs, this experience made me wary.
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I spotted this pattern the other day, when I was trying to find something similar to a vintage pattern I didn’t win on eBay. The ebay pattern wrapped in the back, but I like the way this one wraps in the front, too.Thanks for the picture and link to the pattern reviews! It’s nice to see it actually made up.
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For pockets, I am considering welt pockets on the top skirt( black on the pattern ). Still playing with the options for the welt.
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