Cortney X Grace Dress by Marsha Style

Well hello 2022!

First things first… Sewing this Storrs of London cotton lawn gifted from Maaidesign was an absolute dream. And sorry to say but the Solstice print that I used for my dress has since sold out! The hand feel is creamy and velvety, the print is bold and beautiful and for all of my Aussie sewist you can now purchase a select few Storrs of London fabrications through Maaidesign in Australia.

I don’t know about you, but when I have a beautiful fabric to sew the pressure to sew something amazing is real. I want to make sure every detail of the design and make is perfect.

On my previous blog post you can see how I have combined the Cortney PDF Pattern with the Leila PDF pattern to create a fun babydoll dress with so many gathers and so much fullness. This make sparked an idea to calm down the gathers and fullness to create a maxi dress.

The Grace PDF Pattern also by myself in collaboration with talented Abby was the perfect companion to the Cortney PDF to achieve this look.

As a starting block for the bodice I used the bodice pattern pieces that I’d created for my Cortney X Leila hack. Please see that blog post for the details. I then placed the Grace bodice pieces over the top to work out the width that I needed to fit with the Grace View B skirt pattern pieces.

I ended up reducing my bodice pieces by 2.5cm (1”) through the shoulder to the waist as folded in below. When cutting out I created a straight line from the neck point to the shoulder point.

I opted to use my short Cortney sleeve again as it is seasonally appropriate for my coastal location. The idea of a long sleeve Cortney X Grace hack is very appealing that I will probably make in Winter. I also omitted the collar and created a bind tie exactly the same as the Cortney X Leila hack.

The neck tie gives me the option to wear this style as a V neck or more conservative round neck. I will probably add a little hook and eye to close the front V slightly more when I’m feeling something in between.

For the skirt I used the Grace View B pattern pieces without any changes. I opted for an elasticated waist instead of the ties given the neck tie. It may have been tie overload with both. And the elastic waist is not firm. It’s a loose fit to pull the waist in but not hugging.