A Modified Coco Dress for July's MAGAM

July's theme for MAGAM (make a garment a month) is Seasonal Stashbuster. I outlined my plans on IG earlier in the month: 

"I am planning to sew this lovely tartan double knit from my stash into a winter dress, loosely based on the Tilly and the Buttons Coco Dress. I will reduce the flare of the skirt, add vertical darts at the back, add a bias cut split lapped collar and bias cut patch pockets. Hope it turns out as good as it looks in my head." Well, here is the completed dress:

It has turned out just as I imagined, apart from the lack of plaid matching of the sleeves to the body of the dress...woops. I somehow forgot this detail at the cutting out stage. At least the sleeves match each other. I did all the cutting out in a single layer so I could line up the stripes. The tartan double knit (from Spotlight) had only been in my stash for a few weeks and I was originally planning to make a casual winter top, but after washing it I felt it was more suited to a dress, and this is the eighth time I have made up the Coco dress/top pattern so I have certainly got my money's worth.

I did match the plaid at the side seams, but failed to get a good photo showing this. The bias cut pockets are exact mirror images of each other and I was very happy with this detail.

The vertical darts created a nice fit through the back. I completely fluked the position of the plaid at the centre back of the collar, but love how it is nicely balanced. All the hems were hand stitched so they remained invisible.

Bias cut split lapped collar

I just love the bias cut split lapped collar. It gives the dress a bit of a retro vibe. I wish I had added some interfacing to the collar because it has turned out a little floppy in this double knit, so I will have to remember that for next time.

This will be a nice comfy work dress and I think it will get loads of wear.

Happy Sewing

Jean