Fibre Mood Phyllis

Phyllis is not a name I associate with funky and modern. Apologies to any Phyllis’s who might be reading this. It’s a name I associate with old dears, because the only Phyllis I ever knew was such a one.

When I got to preview Special Edition 3 of Fibre Mood magazine, my eye was drawn to this wonderfully clever looking shirt dress called Phyllis, gorgeously modelled by a very chic older model. I was being sucked in and wanted to pull off this look too.

I was drawn by the pleat detail down one side, the 3/4 length sleeve with a split, the fact that there was no traditional shirt cuff to faff about with and the neat little collar.

At first, I thought that I would make it in some African wax print, but then I came across this amazing graphic print poplin from Bornello fabrics and had to snatch it up.

I love this shade of green at the moment, and I’ve been wanting to try out a wavy graphic print for a while, so this looked like the perfect pairing.  Now, I was determined to make a funky, modern version of the Phyllis, which would, in time, become an old dear to me.

And as if the fabric wasn’t funky enough, I decided to embelish the collar with some Ric Rac to echo the wavy lines of the print.

The dress is a boxy, slightly fitted design, finishing just past the knees. I hoped it would be a good style for me as at the moment I’m not able to wear anything fitted around the waist. Trousers and skirts are uncomfortable  at the moment, so I am wearing dresses mostly now.

The pattern measurements were putting me as a medium for bust and a  large for hips. Fibre Mood patterns are printed without seam allowance added, but there is an option to allow printing with seam allowance. It was only after I had printed and stuck all the pieces together that I remembered that I hadn’t clicked the print with the seam allowance option. Annoying, but as it turned out it was perfectly fine. Worried about the fit, I just cut out the large and hoped for the best.

For a neater, more professional look, I decided to French seam as many seams as I could. And for the first time, I even French seamed the sleeve head and was very pleased with myself! The sleeve comes in 2 pieces which are joined along the front, but not all the way to the end, thus creating a slit. This is the only seam I overlocked.

The star of this garment is the pleated right bodice front. Lining up the pleats took some care but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. The front, right bodice is made up of two parts, the upper and lower bodice. The upper bodice pleats fold into and are incorporated into the button band and the lower bodice pleats fold just up to the button band.

For the collar, I followed a quick tutorial by @thepolkadotpalace on Instagram. But I had some trouble getting it right. There is a pucker in the collar which I am ignoring!

The other thing I struggled with was placing the button holes, hence the chalk marks you can see. Hoping they wash off. It took me ages to evenly spread the buttons out and ensure that I wasn’t sewing a buttonhole through layers of pleated fabric.

Speaking of buttons, the other thing I was really worried about was that the skirt would be too tight and the buttons would gape when I sat down. This fear goes back to struggles I had in the 90s with straight, button up skirts. The shops didn’t cater for women with hips and thick thighs. But I am happy to report that though I have no photo to confirm it, I can sit comfortably in this without any gaping.

All in all, I am really happy with this make. I made it slowly over 5 days and enjoyed most of the making. The boxy shape has been made less so by the pleats and dart in the left bodice. I love how comfortable it is without sacrificing style.

I styled mine with trainers and this is how I’ll be wearing it as soon as the weather is warm enough. The thing about poplin is that when it is unlined it’s a pain to wear with tights. It sticks to your legs and bunches up and you’re forever pulling it off you. Do this will definitely be a Spring and Summer dress.

So, if you’re thinking of adding a shirtdress to your wardrobe, I would recommend trying this one, it’s certainly one of a kind. I am definitely going to make one out of Ankara and maybe one in soft denim. I prefer the look of more structured fabrics. What do you think, will you be trying this?