Homer + Howells Cissy Dress

I'm really delighted with this dress. I find it very difficult to find a woven dress with a bodice that suits me. But I think this one hits the mark. The navy is a brushed viscose and the orange is a cotton needlecord.

As usual with my narrow shoulders I did have to grade out from size 16 there to 24 and back to size 20 at the waist. I also needed to do a cheat's biceps adjustment – I used the size 24 sleeve and adjusted under the arm accordingly.

Despite all these changes, I think it's a great pattern and I will be making it many more times.

You can see more on my blog.

https://sheilaokelly.com/

Homer and Howells asked me if I would like to try one of their new PDF patterns so I chose the Cissy dress as it’s very much a style of dress I like to wear, comfortable, slightly roomy, pockets (natch) and enough details to make it appealing whilst showing off interesting fabric choices. It’s a slightly boxy fit on the bodice with deep pleats on the skirt front and back. I made a 14 according to my body measurements, it’s certainly comfortable although I might be tempted to size down slightly next time for a marginally closer fit without getting too tight. The sleeves are bracelet length and I reckon I’ll take them up a bit next time, maybe nearer the elbow but again that’s merely a personal choice. The skirt is quite long with a deep hem which I like but there’s no reason why you couldn’t make it shorter, or even make it more of a peplum top ( you would probably need to leave the pockets out then) The neck is finished with bias binding, I don’t think there’s a pattern piece ( maybe I missed it in cutting out the pieces?) no matter, I used some ready-made binding in my stash, in fact the whole dress was made using stash items including the zip and pocket bags! The diagrams and instructions are nice and clear and easy to follow although, as ever, I went a bit off piste with my zip by making it an exposed one which I’m always get a bit in a muddle inserting so don’t look too closely! I then found that I don’t need to undo the zip to get the dress on so you can possibly leave it out depending on how close you want the fit. This is probably a half day sew if you’re sticking to the basic pattern but there are loads of ways you could mix it up-exposed bias binding neck finish, short sleeves, NO sleeves, peplum skirt, I used a woven cotton-type but a stable knit would probably work well as well. Broderie Anglaise with a contrast lining would look pretty for summer too, and of course a lovely linen. A very versatile pattern!

The instructions were thorough, well laid out and with just the right amount of detail. Construction was very straight forward, though I did reinforce the waistline with ribbon as seam tape, since the fabric was quite delicate and prone to fraying.  Two and a half hours in, I had just inserted the invisible zip when I received a message from Nic Homer via instagram wishing me well with the project and offering to answer any questions I might have.  This was in response to a story I’d posted the day before about my Cissy dress plans.  Such a generous offer, but not really necessary as I completed the make without any problems. The deep pleats on both the front and back of the dress are stunning and perhaps the floral design on my detracts from this detail.
I fully intend to make another version in a solid colour using either a Tencel or medium weight crepe, though I would need to shorten the dress.  At 5 foot 7, I was surprised that the dress hem fell at my mid calf, as the only full length photo on the designers’ website shows the hem just below the knee.