Sewing the Wide Strap Maxi Dress • free pattern (Peppermint)
The genesis of this Wide Strap Maxi Dress indigo is the result of 2 converging factors…
On the one hand, at the end of the confinement, I did a little shopping therapy and I fell in love with this coupon from Sacrés Coupons.
On the other hand, at about the same time, deprived of a printer for 3 months, I decided to print some very greedy A0 patterns at Go Impression.
ITEM | SHOP | QUANTITY | PRICE |
Wide Strap Maxi Dress | Peppermint x Elbe Textiles | 1 | 0€ |
Pattern printing | Go Impression | 1 | 3,40 € |
Indigo tiled silk & cotton | Sacrés Coupons | 3 m | 38,20 € |
Thread | Stock | — | 0 € |
Total | 41,60 € |
The Free Wide Strap Maxi Dress Pattern
The Wide Strap Maxi Dress is a free pattern published by the Australian magazine Peppermint in collaboration with Elbe Textiles, an Australian pattern designer.
The pattern recommends a fabric that is both stable & flowing: linen ideally.
Elbe Textiles also offers the Lawley skirt as a free pattern.
The Wide Strap Maxi Dress (frankly we’re full of it!) is a long and ample dress, fitted on the bust with chest clips and 2 side slits.
Finally the pockets offer a nice detail with a kind of notch.
The explanations of the pattern are clear and quite detailed and also offer perfect finishes based on flat felled seams and English stitching.
The drawings of the different stages are very well done.
The technical drawing, on the other hand, does not do justice to the model and also forgets an important indication: the center front seam.
And this info is very important because the center front seam is curved.
Wide Strap Maxi Dress Sewing
The pattern pieces… Look out!
The Wide Strap Maxi Dress is not very complicated to sew. There are quite a few pieces:
- Back x1
- Front x2
- Strap x2
- Back facing x1
- Front facing x1
However, you may have noticed, my front is made of 4 pieces… it’s that damn technical drawing made me make a mistake. Yeah, there’s a cutting plan. So what? I never look at it XD
So, I had cut my front at the fold and I had a lot of trouble to align the edge of my pattern piece at the fold… and for a good reason! The middle front forms a curve on the chest.
As a result, I had just enough fabric to cut the upper part of the front in 2, but not the whole front. Hence my patching.
Modifications
Well, I didn’t really make any modification on this pattern 😉 !
However, I modified the assembly by using fusible interfacing on half of the straps and the pockets.
For the shoulder straps, it’s linked to my fabric: I was afraid it would be a bit soft and wouldn’t fit flat.
Note also – and the instructions say so -, you have to remember to try the dress with the straps simply basted (with pins for example) to check the length of the straps before sewing them definitively (like not like me…).
In addition, for pockets, I think it is essential to iron some fusible interfacing on any kind of fabric in order to get the cleanest possible result on the right angles.
On my side, I removed something like 4 inches on each strap!
Finally, another adjustment related to my size: the 3 inches hem (instead of 1 in) which brings a little weight at the bottom of the dress. Quite nice considering my very light fabric.
Difficulties of this free pattern
Contrary to some simplistic free patterns, this pattern requires some experience in sewing.
Thus, I will note the stitching values which vary according to the assemblages, and pockets.
For example, on the slits, you have to make 0.5 cm folds which are not easy. Better have a well-mannered fabric.
For me, it was a bit complicated with my cotton & silk fabric which is not very lively but whose rather loose weave lets it deform easily.
Finally, the adjustment is quite simple to do since the elastic back allows you to adjust the ease of the model to your liking.
Conclusion
I totally recommend this pattern. I wore this dress by 30°+ and I totally validate its status as a heat wave dress ❤︎ ☀️.
I’ve gotten nothing but compliments on it. I think this fabric is really beautiful and I really don’t regret the investment (even if 10 € per meter is not the end of the world either).
Will I do it again? No, not for the moment anyway. 1 dress on this pattern is enough for me, but the pattern being free, the profitability of the pattern is not an issue!