Southport Dress

Moving along in my Momiform capsule wardrobe, I made the Southport Dress by True Bias.

I was a pattern tester for the Mini Southport Dress (I still owe Arden another in a color she appreciates more than the gray one I made during testing), but I hadn’t made the jump to making one for me until recently.  Why did I wait so long?

There are two views for the Southport Dress – this is View A and View B is a maxi length with a dramatic slit up the front.  With the button placket this would be an amazing dress for nursing Moms – make note of this one ladies!

The Southport Dress fits into my “everyday” category, so we pretended that we were doing the morning rush to get out the door in time to walk Arden to school.  As it gets cooler as we head into fall, Arden is again grabbing the eared hat we got from Glitter & Wit.  This color isn’t available any longer, but this one is even cuter (if that’s even possible!)

The Southport Dress is drafted for a C cup and a 5’5″ model.  I wear a D cup bra, but my over bust and full bust are only two inches different (over bust = 42″ and full bust = 44″), so I generally don’t need to do a full bust adjustment on patterns, and that was the case for this.

The rest of my measurements are waist = 39″ and hips = 45″, which put me firmly in the size 18 for the size chart.  As I mentioned in my Momiform MAKEover post, the only adjustments I made were to use a mostly elastic drawstring – very comfortable, and I highly recommend – and to lengthen by about three inches since I’m 5’8″.

When I make more Southport Dresses I will make one further adjustment to bring the bottom of the armscye up just a little bit.  It covers my bra fully as it is, but there is a little extra roominess there and if I bend and reach at just the right angle it does gape a bit there.

The fabric I used is Rayon challis from Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I can’t find a direct link to their website for this fabric.  I really love this material for this pattern – so drapey and soft, but easy to work with aside from a tendency to shift while cutting.  It presses well, and I don’t even iron it after washing since wrinkles will fall out with wear as long as you hang it immediately after taking it out of the dryer.

Outfit Details
Pattern: Southport Dress by True Bias
Fabrics: Rayon challis from Jo-Ann Fabrics
Cardigan: Boyfriend Cardigan by Love Notions – I’ll be posting about this tomorrow