My Indigo Dress

You’ll start to learn that I’m a massive Tilly and the Buttons fan … I love their patterns and when the Indigo dress was released I was so excited! Gathered waist dresses always draw my attention and the interesting features of the Indigo made it just that little bit different.

I bought the pattern straight away and using a Hobbycraft gift card that I received for my birthday I purchased some lovely Blue/Green tartan cotton. It’s really lightweight but is still not see through and has washed and worn so well!

The pattern has a few different versions … which I mixed and matched and changed !! Going from the finished measurements I thought that the top version looked like it might be long enough for me as a dress – I’m 5ft2 and wear dresses quite short, normally above the knee. However when I had got to the point of trying it on I found it was a little short so I added a panel along the bottom which meant it was the perfect length, and I actually really like the look of the additional strip. Originally I did add a lace panel in between the skirt and fabric strip but I think it was too lightweight as it didn’t sit very well so I scrapped that and opted for just the fabric!

Another thing I changed was the sleeves, I had cut out the sleeves and actually attached them. However when I tried it on there was just too much tartan ! I don’t know what it was but it just didn’t feel like the dress was balanced with the sleeves … I think also it was partly due to the fabric as it doesn’t have much drape so the sleeves sat a bit odd. So I took them off and instead of making them short I just decided to get rid of them all together – in hindsight short sleeves would probably have worked really well but for some reason it was all or nothing at the time !!!
To finish the arm holes I used some satin blue bias binding which was great, it means that when I wear it over a top the armholes don’t cling and drag.

I did go for the exposed gather which I thought was such an interesting feature … it was a much more involved process but so worth it ! I would definitely use the technique on other gathered dresses as it really looks beautiful.

Something else that I added were waist ties in a navy viscose that I had in my stash. As with many people who made the Indigo I was inspired to add waist ties by Joy from Pink Coat Club, and it really does make a difference as it just pulls in the waist slightly. I would definitely make sure I added them to future versions too …

I’ve had so much wear out of this make and it’s definitely been a winter staple … the fabric has washed really well and I can’t wait to mix up how I wear it as spring and summer arrive ! I’ve mainly worn it with long sleeved jersey tops underneath, thick tights and boots but think it would look equally cute with trainers and bare legs with a denim jacket.

I’ve been meaning to make another Indigo for a while … I really want to make a viscose version as I think the drape would really suit the pattern. These three from Guthrie and Ghani are very beautiful so maybe I need to go fabric shopping !! I am going to the Stitch Festival this Sunday so that might be something I look out for …