It has been so incredible seeing everyone’s versions of The Rhea Dress, I particularly love how a quite a few sewists decided to add waist ties to cinch in the back of the dress and I adored how it looked so decided to try for myself! I love how inspiring and supportive the sewing community can be on Instagram, it’s so refreshing and encouraging to play and explore!

Choosing the pattern

I released The Rhea Dress sewing pattern last month or so and thought it would be perfect for a more autumnal dress that uses a darker, floral fabric. This dress pattern has a deep v neckline, a gathered waist and a ruffle at the bottom which feels so stylish.

Choosing the fabric

I love wearing dresses in Autumn with a jumper thrown over and because this dress is more midi length it would work perfectly when it starts to get a little chillier. I’m obsessed with dark, floral prints at the moment and I bought this gorgeous black, white and blue viscose from Fabrics Galore London earlier this year and thought this would work perfectly! It’s quite lightweight but because it’s a darker coloured fabric there are no see-through bits in the skirt and it feels so easy wearing and comfy!

Construction

So I made this exactly as per how I instructed with tie straps for the shoulders and then decided to add waist ties that I would tie at the back. For these, I cut out two more pieces of fabric that were the same width of the shoulder straps but just double in length so I could tie them without there being too much string leftover and they worked perfectly! You’ll want to sew this in at the top of the skirt (about 2″ down) when attaching the skirt side seams and then follow the instructions to create the gathering effect above this.