If I had to pick an all-time favorite garment I’ve made, I would have to say it’s my color-blocked Coco from a few months ago. I’ve worn that baby to work, social events, concerts, and even an audition! It’s so comfy it feels like wearing pjs, but super chic at the same time. So, of course, I had to make another!
One of the things I really love about Tilly’s Coco pattern are the simple, classic lines that lend themselves well to endless possibilities. And since this month is Sewing Indie Month (hosted by Mari over at Seamster), I decided to try making a simple pattern hack to celebrate! But first, the dress:
As you can see, this time I opted for the funnel neck. The fabric is a drapey double knit from Mood fabrics – I’d been dying to make a striped version after seeing Tilly’s many amazing striped creations, and was to thrilled to finally get a chance! Oh, and look at that stripe matching at the side seams!
Very proud of that! To match the stripes, I sewed the seams with my sewing machine set to a zig-zag, since the serger tends to feed unevenly, resulting in mismatched stripes and frustration. I did want to use my serger as a seam finish, though, since the fabric does unravel a little, so I serged the edges:
To create the bottom panel, (i.e. my super easy pattern hack), I used both the top and the dress patterns:
First, I cut the main dress from the top pattern, adding a 5/8″ seam allowance to the bottom and omitting the side vent mark.
Next, I created the bottom pattern piece by using the bottom portion of the dress pattern, cutting it off at the Coco top hem allowance and adding 5/8″ at the top.
The final step was simply to attach the bottom piece to the top; then you can sew up the dress according to the instructions.
As you can see, I created a fun contrast by turning the stripes on the collar and bottom panel vertically. Since those parts of the dress don’t need to stretch much, you can get away with doing that with a knit. Super easy!
Posing with Tilly’s fabulous new book!
Hopefully this one will become a new favorite as well!
Oh, and one more piece of business – you can now vote for my sari wrap skirt on the Project Sewn Sewalong! 🙂
Dressing the Role 
Very cute! This dress will be great in the winter with tights too.
Thanks! Yes, I love how this dress really is a four-season pattern – super versatile!
Really like this hack.
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Thanks!
How lovely. I really like this dress.
Thank you! I think it’s a new favorite!
I love the change in stripe direction. It looks fab. One of the nicest Coco’s I’ve seen 🙂
Thank you! I saw a few garments with that detail while window shopping/Pinterest browsing and thought it would be fun to add 🙂
That is incredibly, incredibly cute. 🙂
Question, though, with the stretchy-side-of-knit sewn to the not-as-stretchy-side-of-knit on the longer skirt segment: how well does it wash? (the way bias sewn to not-bias wears/washes in large-ish areas has made me grind my teeth before, and I have not yet ventured properly into the Land of Drapey Knits, so I’d like to know where the fireswamps are before I meddle with sergers et al…)
Thanks! Sorry for the super late response – I haven’t washed it yet so I dint know! I actually wasn’t aware that this is an issue, so it’ll be an adventure when I wash it! I’ll let you know what I find. What has your experience been washing garments with bias sewn to non-bias?
Sometimes, bias stretches out a bit, non-bias fails to stretch, and thus mild puckering or just plain “weird hang” sometimes ensues (aaargh). It seems to happen less with some seam methods (french seam appears to reduce this for me?) and some fabrics, though. I assume it has something to do with how much “bounce” the bias cut of a particular fabric has vs how much limp stretching without rebound it “wants” to do, so that might be a factor with knits as well? But I don’t know, hence the asking. 🙂 (sorry for the delayed response to your delayed response!)
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