After some time spent on summer holidays and then coming home and having a ridiculous amount of things suddenly on my plate, I have finally fixed my drafting issue with the girls’ Forest dress and can release this pattern. Those who have been around for awhile know that we won’t put a pattern out if we feel there’s an issue we can fix. So I took the time I needed and I’m happy with this now and hope you will be too!
This won’t be a long blog post. We’ll have a look into the pattern details and then we need to talk about fabric choices which is arguably the most important thing to consider when diving into the Forest or Miss Forest dresses.
Here’s the details:
- Fitted bodice with princess seams
- Optional cap sleeve insert
- Optional side cut-outs
- A line flare skirt in 2 lengths – short or midi
- Optional centre front panel on the skirt
- Y back or V back options
- Invisible zipper closure at center back
- Optional pockets
- Darted bodice for sizes 8-16
Instead of rewriting a whole blog post, I’m going to recommend you have a read of the post I already wrote on the Miss Forest. It already explains the expected fit, draft intention, and includes some very important information about how fabrics affect fit. I can’t stress enough how important it is to take the time to look into the potential hiccups that you might find when sewing this fitted, woven bodice. Especially if you are the type that wants to cut directly into your good fabric.
I don’t want to frighten people from trying this pattern because this is a beautiful dress, but it’s all about trying to spot potential frustrations before they happen. If you’ve been sewing for longer than 5 minutes, you know frustrations happen and we wish we could’ve skipped that part, right? So let’s have a second before we start.
Girls’ Forest Fabric:
The main difference for fabric choices between the Miss Forest and this girls’ Forest is that the girls’ version is drafted with a preference for quilting cottons. We did a bit of a poll and as suspected, the majority of people sewing for this size range will gravitate towards quilting cottons. For this reason I drafted to make sure quilting cotton will work although I will also point out that with these fabrics, there is hardly any mechanical stretch or definitely no drape so you will notice that the neckline may feel higher, the armpits higher, and the fit is just more fitted. This means that if you feel like you want extra scoop in the neckline you will have to cut it out a bit before sewing. Or you can choose to sew with a larger SA in the neckline to create a deeper scoop. Here’s the latest quilting cotton version I made. So cute, eh?
If you are making for someone between sizes and they are close to needing to size up, you might need to make some adjustment in the seam allowances to create what would be a “half size”. That’s what the fit checks are for though. You’ll see then if you need a bit more/less room.
I will say the Forest dresses I’ve made with quilting cottons have rarely needed much for adjustments. Other fabrics with more drape and movement, however, those are the ones that you will want to really keep an eye on.
If you choose fabrics that have more movement like rayons, linen, and the like, you should expect to find the fit to be looser, the neckline and armpits a bit lower, and you will likely need to make some fit adjustments before adding the skirt. Fabrics like linen that tend to “grow” as you work with it (and especially after wearing for awhile) tend to feel and look very loose. The first one I made with linen I was a little shocked at how it looked like I was WAY off with my sizing. But a few adjustments in the side seams and it was looking amazing. I just needed to recognize the behaviour of linen and adjust for it.
Seam allowance errors:
This is something that I did already mention in the other blog post, but I think it’s important enough to mention twice. There are 7 vertical seams around the bodice of this dress – side seams, princess seams, and the zipper – 8 if you consider there are 2 sides of the zipper. If you are off from the required seam allowance by only 1/16″ on every seam, you will have a difference of 7/8″ either too big or too small on your finished garments. In some cases that’s almost 2 sizes. If you’re off by 1/8″ on each seam, you’ve now got a difference of 1 3/4″ of either too much or too little ease!!!! That’s close to 4 sizes in some areas. I don’t know if that shocks you at all, but it should keep you mindful! That adds up fast. But these seams also mean that you have lots of allowance to play with when you need to make adjustments. So do your fit checks along the way and fine tune what you need to using those seams.
Again, have a read of the Miss Forest blog post as well since I did go into more details about the different fabric types there.
As per usual, this pattern is available by itself or together in the Forest Bundle with both size ranges. You may notice the Miss Forest does have the add-on for a different skirt type. At this time it is not available in the girls’ size range and I’ll see if I maybe make that happen next summer. No promises, but if I see that this dress is well-loved, that’ll be my sign. 😊
I’ll give you a few more pics to enjoy and I wish you a great day. Thanks for being here!
Remember to share you finished Forest dresses with us in our FB sewing group and IG! #sofiforestdress #sofionadesigns
I am Mami de Sofiona 