Sew Over It Joan Dress

The Sew Over It Joan dress is an oldie but a goodie, as they say!  As the bodice is fitted, I wanted to do a tissue fit to start off with.  The tissue fit showed me that the waistline and the shoulder seam were both in the right place and overall, the bodice fitted well without any adjustments which was great.  The skirt is quite long; too long for me, so I shortened that by 3 inches.  The pattern gives you two helpful ‘shorten / lengthen’ lines one mid skirt and one at the kick pleat – I think this is so that you don’t end up with the kick pleat length being out of proportion.  I split my 3” into two and reduced each area by 1.5”.  I also added 5/8” onto the bicep line of the sleeve pattern piece to give myself slightly more wriggle room in the arms.

The Joan dress is quite a long sew, definitely not something that you can wip up in an afternoon.  I would estimate that it took me over two days to complete it.  There are only 37 steps in the instructions but there is quite a bit of hand sewing (the hem and attaching the lining to the sleeves and the zip).  All of the steps are quite straight forward and explained well.  The only one I struggled with was the kick pleat. As well as my tissue fit, I also made a toile to be on the safe side and I’m glad I did because I completely messed up the kick pleat on that first version!  Step five of the instructions gets you to trim away the kick pleat on the right-hand side of the main fabric and the left-hand side of the lining and I did it the wrong way round meaning that it was impossible for me to sew up the kick pleat correctly.  I think its quite an easy mistake to make because the lining is put in inside out and so its easy to confuse your lefts and rights! (well…it was for me anyway!).  I would recommend that you skip step five in the instructions and only trim off the kick pleats when the majority of the dress is put together and you are just about to sew the pleat.  I found the pictures in steps 17 and 23 of the instructions helpful to make sure you get it right!  Sew Over It also have a blog post on sewing the kick pleat which was useful.  Other than that, the sewing was pretty uneventful.  Although I would definitely recommend giving your collar a good steam to ensure it sits down nicely rather than standing up.

I have had the Joan dress pattern for several years and in hindsight, I should have made it years ago when I was regularly going into an office for work.  It’s a really smart, professional looking dress, perfect for a formal office environment.  I found it has just enough ease to be able to walk around and sit down reasonably comfortably.  I really like this pattern and am glad I have finally made it.  The only sad thing is that I am struggling to think of an occasion coming up where I will wear it!  Maybe I need to book a posh restaurant ready for when lockdown ends or perhaps I will just up my working from home wardrobe game and wear it for my next Zoom call!

I graded between an 8 at the bust, and 10 at the waist and hips.

I have a bad habit to rush through sewing projects, so I really enjoyed that this dress encourages slow sewing. Not only because it is lined, but also because it includes lots of lovely details, including that adorable collar and six darts. There is also some hand sewing involved, which I know not everyone enjoys, but I do as it allows me to sew while sat on the sofa.

Blog post here: https://englishgirlathome.com/2015/10/01/mustard-crepe-joan-dress-plus-giveaway/