thirteen

This shirt belongs to my dear, dear friend's husband. She and I met fifteen years ago (unbelievably) when we ended up in the same sophomore architecture studio. It has been my honor to get to know her over the years and watch her become an amazing woman, skilled architect, and incredible mother. We had dinner last week and she brought me this shirt to transform into a dress for her nearly three year old daughter. The colors are really beautiful with a pattern of thin lines in purples, greys and dark blue.

You know she's a true friend because when I asked her what kind of style she wanted, she told me to design the dress any way I wanted.... which says a lot considering she is a designer herself. Knowing her as I do, it was instantly clear to me that she would want a simple silhouette but with a few subtle details to make it special and unique. 

I came up with a new design which I was confident she would like, but the issue was that I had never made it before (though it is derived from dress four). When I created my pattern and it was time to cut the shirt, I got nervous. This is the most stressful part of the process for me when I am making something for someone else because I desperately do not want to make a mistake and cut the fabric incorrectly. There is only so much fabric and they have put their trust in me that I will deliver something wearable-- not a heap of ill-cut scraps! So, for this particular dress, because it means so much to me and because I didn't want to mess it up, I decided to actually make a mock-up of the dress out of one of my extra white dress shirts. 

Yes, I did. 
For those who know me, this should not be surprising. It has to be perfect. Especially if I am making it for someone else. It took extra time, but it was worth it in the end because I figured out a lot of issues that I was able to correct with the real shirt. 


The design of the dress started with a desire to keep the button placket on the side of the dress. Additionally, unlike dress four, I wanted to use only two pattern piece for simplicity. This meant I would basically have two side pieces that would join at seams in the front and the back. I added extra width to the sides that would join in the front and kept the sides that would join at the back fitted. 

With the extra fabric that ended up at the front of the dress, I made a symmetrical knife pleat at the neckline to add shape and interest, then I top stitched four rows of a thin grey line to reinforce the pleats and give a little nod to the name of my line. 

Update: A few photos of the dress worn by its new owner!