Southport Dress

I saw this pattern making the rounds on a few of blogs and decided it was a good simple dress for an impending Queensland heatwave extravaganza. I recently discovered the Remnant Warehouse, an on-line fabric store with very a good range of fabrics and a reasonable delivery cost here in Aus.  This fabric is a cheesecloth though with a bit more stiffness.  Most of the fabrics I did buy were of the cheesecloth variety.  I'm all about trying to get more non-crush, cool to wear fabrics for my summer wardrobe. 

I saw on one blog where someone had used elastic for the waist instead of the drawstring. I decided on this option.  Now ever caution about sizing I felt pretty good about the bodice, especially making sure there wasn't much gape in the underarm department.  I also decided against doing button holes since the dress pulls over your head anyway.  I simply attached the buttons, sewing the thread through all the layers so the front right and left bodice are attached to each other. 

Not overly happy with my end product.  I should have lengthened the bodice. It is almost sitting high enough to be an empire line.  Also there is a bit too much room (as always) in the mammary department.  I might need to take the bodice in about an inch.  I also added some lining, but only to the skirt section. I thought given the pattern of the fabric the top wouldn't be too shear, but didn't want to risk the skirt section.  Given the shape of the skirt section, I think I might use it to make myself a cotton half slip to wear with all my potentially see through frocks.

I found the dress easy to make and the instructions seemed to be accurate.  I may give it another crack making the necessary adjustments.  For now this is a nice dress to wear if I have to head out to the shops or visit my folks.  The pattern is perfect for hiding cat hair and that's always a bonus. Especially when my parents have a very beautiful and cuddly brown cat. 

I also recommend for any Australians out there to check out the Remnant Warehouse. It's reasonably priced fabrics and they will even send you a sample in the mail for a nominal sum.


You can't really see clearly all the detail of the fabric or the buttons in my photos. My camera has started playing up recently and I end up with slightly out of focus photos.  Very annoying when I try to photograph a number of frocks at once, only discover when I download them to the laptop that they are out of focus.