Sew Over It Heather Dress

I had been sewing for a while before I decided to make myself a dress. Because I’m not too happy with my size and shape at the moment I had trouble finding a pattern that I was happy with. Last summer I did find a couple of dress patterns for woven fabrics that were suitable. But in winter I live in 3/4 sleeved tunic dresses with pockets over my leggings. I’d tried a few patterns, but not been that impressed. Until I tried the Sew Over It Heather Dress.

Sew Over It Heather Dress

The Sew Over It Heather Dress seemed to be exactly what I was searching for. Sewn in knit/jersey fabric, it has

• a choice of sleeve length – full length, 3/4 sleeve, and capped.
• pockets – an absolute must for a mother, I’ve found.
• a round neckline

You also have the choice of making it in 2 different colours, perfect for giving a bit of a ‘body con’ look. I was sold!

PDF Pattern vs Printed?

The heather dress is only available as a downloadable pattern. You cannot buy it in a printed form.

I went online to the Sew Over It website and bought the pattern online. It was delivered to me within minutes and I downloaded it onto my computer.

I actually love PDF patterns and use them a lot. They are

• easily and rapidly downloaded – no need to wait for the pattern to come in the post, you can use it that day.
• easy to print out – as long as you have adobe reader downloaded on your computer.
• you can print the pattern time and time again, meaning that you don’t need to trace different sizes from a pattern (which is a laborious job!)

However, you do need a lot of paper (the Heather dress was 36 pages), and it can be quite wasteful of paper. You also need to stick the pattern together, which took me about 45 minutes. And you don’t get an envelope for the pattern, though I did make myself one from the printed front cover sheet and another page.

Making up the Dress Pattern

I am very used to sewing with knit fabrics, but I always make a toile out of cheap fabrics to ensure a good fit (read why here). I made up the pattern in the two tone version. The instructions are really clear on which pieces to cut in which fabric, which was great.

I would say that this pattern was great for a beginner, though will be good if you have some experience with jersey. The main parts of the dress were very easy to make up for me. All the notches met properly, and the pattern instructions were really helpful and thorough.

Except when it came to the neckline. I have sewn many a jersey neckline, and I just wasn’t impressed with the instructions in this pattern on how to do it. It seemed to me to be a very hit and miss approach to sewing a neckline. I used my usual technique which I found on YouTube last year. This is my post of how to sew a neckline on any garment without it being too big or too small.

I did however learn something new whilst making this dress. The pattern asked for me to use a twin needle. Both when hemming and going around the neckline once the neckband had been sewn into place. I had never done this before, even though I have done several other brands of patterns. It gave a really professional finish to the garment. It stopped the neckband from being floppy. I will definitely be using this technique on all my jersey / knit projects in future.

The finished dress

I was absolutely overjoyed with my finished Sew Over It Heather Dress. It fits so well, even for a toile. The sleeve length is absolutely right, and the pockets are perfect for me. I will definitely be making more of these!

Fancy getting your hands on this pattern? Buy it at the Sew Over It website

Also see my review of another Sew Over It Pattern – The Sew Over It Cami

And there are some wonderful cotton jerseys over at Minerva.

Why not pin me for later?

I’d love to see your versions of the Sew Over It Heather dress. Do comment how you get on below, or contact me on social media.

Enjoyed this? Why not read How to Make Children Leggings Without Needing A Pattern?

or about making New Clothes From Old?

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