Lately I’ve fallen back in love with dresses – they’re so easy to wear! You just put them on and off you go. A while back I made the HotPatterns Plain & Simple Shirtdress out of a fine wale corduroy and I wear it almost once a week.
Marfy has three great sporty dresses for Spring ’07, and it going to be hard to decide which one I like the most.
All three of these would be great in a cotton pique, linen, denim, seersucker, or a twill.
F1312
This style has really great lines, I love the slanted inset pockets on the skirt and the button front. The machine embroidery concept for the skirt looks kind of dopey, and instead I’d use one half of a metal tooth zipper as an edge trim for the pockets. I might also replace the button front with a nice Riri zipper, and again use the extra teeth to trim the edges of the inset pockets.
F1310
Reminds me of my fave HP Plain & Simple Shirtdress. This would be killer in a dark wash denim with snaps and rivets as fasteners. Another great combination would be white linen with brown topstitching. I’d wear this to work with a tight cap sleeve T-shirt underneath and in the fall I’d wear it over a long sleeve body suit and tall boots.
F1313
Now, the only thing I don’t love about this style is the dowdy length on the skirt – do you know any woman who looks good in a hem that hits right below the knee cap? I’d raise the hem for sure to right above the knee, and other than that I love the 70′s neckline and all of the zippers (Riri again would look fabulous), snaps, and topstitching.
All 3 of these are fab, but I like 1 and 3 the best. I agree with your comments. The floral accent adds nothing to the first dress, and the length on the third dress isn’t right. So, are these still dream dresses or are they in progress?
Ooo, Phyllis. I *love* #2 (F1310). Reminds me of the shirtdress in the upcoming Burda Easy mag that I’ve been obsessing about. Also I love your ideas on how to wear it. White linen eh?
I’d go with #2, I like #1 *without the embroidery*, and #3 doesn’t quite push my buttons. I like the fact that it has pockets and that you can increase/decrease layers as the weather dictates. It’s perfect for New England.
I have a white linen dress in the works for SWAP that I can’t wait to start and in this cold, feel like I’ll never get to wear! My favorite of the Marfys is #2 and I would make it up just like you said. I may be the only woman alive that looks better in dresses hemmed right below the knee. My calves are curvy but firm and I have relatively small ankles. My thighs aren’t bad either even though I am overweight. The knees however, look like they belong on a dock worker, which wouldn’t be so bad if they actually worked but they have been a pain (literally) since I was about 6!
Phyllis – that last Marfy dress has set my heart a flutter! I just don’t think they make it in my size so I am on the hunt for a pattern to adopt. As you know I L-O-V-E dresses too!
Love #1 without the embroidery, and with the changes you mentioned. I’m totally stealing your ideas (don’t worry – I’ll never actually make it up at the rate I sew!!!) I’d also raise the hemline on the first dress to above knee. I do like the lines of the 3rd – esp. the wrap-around “princess” seams. Yum.