Remember how back in the beginning of summer I made a maxi dress in grey polkadot jersey? And I wasn’t sure if it was really “me” because it was stretchy and comfy and whatnot? Ok so the epilogue to that post was that I wore it ALL.SUMMER.LONG. Seriously, it has been one of my most successful makes in terms of usage.

Here it is on a girls weekend to Berlin:

Photo by Katherine Leedale Photography, ecstatic grin/gurn model’s own.

Fastforward to now. It’s been a lovely warm autumn, which put me in the mood for another maxi. Whilst browsing for a suitable pattern I remembered that when I won a pattern from SBCC (way back in June), I held off because the ladies told me they were about to release a maxi – Vesper. A quick email and she was all mine.

The Vesper dress has a pleat at the front and crossover straps at the back. Construction is straightforward, the instructions are great and I sewed it in a few hours over a weekend.

Fabric-wise I used a lovely grey jersey that I ordered a while back from Guthrie & Ghani in the UK. Side note – lovely Lauren wins best customer service award in my book for her super-speedy and helpful email replies!

I’ve learned that the nice thing about knits is you’ve got a lot of flexibility with the fit. I kept trying it on as I put it together and making small adjustments – lowering the neckline and pulling in the side seams a little.

Since going underwear-free is never an option for me (and visible straps are a pet peeve), I also added a little band across the back. It’s not usually visible unless I turn in certain ways or, say, adopt an awkward tilted airplane pose, what?

This time I’m making no pretences, it’s a little baggy, a lotta comfy and I love it. Grey jersey dresses are clearly my jam. I’m already plotting another.

Siobhan xx