Copy of RTW Tristan V-neck Pull-on Dress

Last year, spring 2016, my mum and I went to Montreal for a weekend shopping trip. It was great! Other than it rained the whole time, so we spent most of our time downtown in the underground shopping malls. But, I did find some great RTW pieces, and one dress from Tristan that screamed COPY ME!!!!

So, on my return, I hauled out a knit that I’d bought the previous year in Montreal, which I think is rayon or viscose with spandex (or something along those lines) . Another one of those purchases that I had no idea of what to make with when I bought it but it felt so lovely, and straight to the stash it went.

Here’s the RTW (blue) and Copy side by side. It’s actually the second copy, the first one was a wearable trial, as in I’d wear it camping (did that) or in the back yard only.

 

This dress is actually two pieces, top and skirt, attached at the waist with an elastic casing and a drawstring. The Jalie 3352 dolman top turned out to be a prefect starting point. Using the measurements from the RTW dress, I traced the Jalie pattern and made the following alterations:

• Bound V-neck, overlapped at the V (simpler construction)
• Shoulder brought up closer to the neck, not so wide as Jalie’s top
• Shoulder seams moved forward 2.5 cm
• Top length about the same as Jalie’s to form blouson effect, cut straight across
• Simple skirt, very slight A-line
• 2 buttonholes at the top of the skirt for the drawstrings
• Attached strip inside to form the casing for the elastic and drawstring

This is what I use my sewing journal forms for, it’s so handy. (FYI - there’s going to be an update/additional version up in my Google Drive soon, because of my new-ish machine…yet to blog.)

Hopefully I can find another knit in my stash for one more, it’s a stash busting year for me. And because I love it so much, I made a construction/assembly sheet for the next ones. (Available if anybody is interested, DOCX and PDF files.)

I’ve loved wearing both dresses last summer. They’re casual and comfortable, and it’s just so nice and simple to have one piece of clothing to decide on. I can even bike in them, as long as I wear my girlish biking shorts!

Dreaming of summer!