The Davenport Dress With Ankle Length Skirt by Atia from @thebrightblooms

Hi I’m Atia @thebrightblooms (on Instagram) and I’m so happy to be sharing a post on the Friday Pattern Company blog!

As soon as I saw the Davenport dress pattern I knew it would be the perfect style for me. I love the loose comfortable fit on the sleeves and body, as well as the drawstring waist to add some definition. I decided to use a pretty lightweight viscose print from Fabric Godmother, it has the perfect drape and softness for this pattern. I made a size small for the bodice and graded to a medium at the waist.

I made a simple modification to the dress to make it ankle length. I added 9 inches of length to the front and back skirt pieces, and added about 2 inches more to the width to allow for freedom of movement when walking. The skirt pieces already have plenty of ease in them so I didn’t need to add too much more width. For the ruffles, I cut them to be the full width of the fabric rather than the width in the pattern, because I had added some width to the skirt pieces. If you decide to lengthen the pattern, you may need to add a different amount of length, I used a tape measure to see how much extra length I’d need to add, I calculated I would need a 34.5” skirt length so subtracted the 25.5” skirt length (according to the pattern measurements) which meant I needed to add 9” to the length. I made the sleeves as in the pattern but they are almost full length on me which is what I wanted.

The sewing was straightforward with the clear instructions provided. I enjoyed the construction of the bodice and the clever neck opening with elastic which eliminates the need for a zip or button fastening. The bodice has a very clean finish inside too, just be careful to have your back bodice piece the right way up when you sew it to the back yoke as I got this wrong the first time! The illustrations make it easy to follow. I hadn’t sewn a drawstring waist like this before so I found this interesting to learn.

I think this is a great dress to throw on for any occasion. I plan to wear mine with a Heather Blazer for work or with trainers for a simple casual look. Thank you for reading my blog post!

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Find Atia on Instagram here - https://bit.ly/3aokJIO

Shop the Davenport Dress here - https://bit.ly/3n4l6xd