The Sally Shirtdress

No. 124 - The Sally Shirtdress by Serendipity Studio

Below is my version of this wonderful pattern.  I first found the material on-line at Pink Chalk Fabrics.  Although I have never been to the shop, the next time I am in the Seattle area, I plan on visiting.  It looks like a wonderful shop on Bainbridge Island.  Anyways, my husband bought me a gift certificate and I knew when I saw this fabric, it would be perfect for the shirtdress.  


Front view

The pattern is fairly straight forward.  It has a front, back, sleeve and collar.  The bottom trim on the sleeves and hem can either be ruffled or a flat piece of fabric.  I opted for a little ruffle in some red and white polka dot coordinating fabric I found at a local quilt shop. 




Back view

I made a size small and it was very roomy.  The roominess is taken up by the pleats. The 8 pleats around the front and back requires a little math calculation, but it's nothing too difficult.  You can adjust the height and depth of the pleats according to where your waistline is.  I pin fitted mine first, to make sure the pleats were coming out the way I anticipated.  I wanted the pleats to end just below the bust and right at the bottom of the belt - which they did! 


Close up of buttons and belt

I also made the covered buttons and the belt.  I just happened to have in my stash the perfect belt buckle as well!  I think it was given to me by a friend a few years ago, but it matches perfectly!  One note on the covered buttons.  I purchased some new button covering kits by Dritz and they were terrible! My buttons kept falling apart. I've never run into that problem before - especially with just some thin quilting cotton.  I ended up taking them back to the store and using some old ones I already had in my stash. 

Before returning them, I did a size comparison on the new ones to the old ones and discovered that the prongs on the new ones were much shorter and not as sharp as my older ones - hence the problem.  There wasn't enough "teeth" to grab and hold the fabric. I e-mailed Dritz about the problem but never heard a reply from them.  Keep that in mind if you purchase some new button covering kits.  One thing I didn't try was interfacing the piece of fabric - that might have made a difference, but I doubt it.  Now when I'm looking at yard sales, I will buy as many old versions of the button covering kits that I can find!


Another view of the front

This really is a cute dress and very comfortable to wear.  I opted for the ruffle trim on the bottom hem and on the sleeve. 


Close up of hem

I feel like June Cleaver in this dress!  Especially with the pearl necklace and earrings!  


Sleeve detail

I hope you will give this pattern a try.  I'm sure I will be making another version soon!

Happy Sewing!