Just in case you think you've been transported to France, you haven't, you're still here with me and my appalling O Level French.….and the new Frenchy-style pattern from Tilly and the Buttons - the Francoise dress!
Francoise is a simple fitted dress designed for woven fabrics, with raglan sleeves, French darts for shaping and an A-line skirt. It comes in two variations: long sleeved or sleeveless, with a choice of added collar or waist tabs. I tested this pattern for Tilly prior to printing, so thought I'd share my finished Francoise with you today. My first thought when I saw the initial line drawings and photos was that the dress might be a bit youthful for me, I mean me in a mini dress, really? But I did like the raglan sleeves and French darts, so decided to go for it with a few tweaks. As I was testing the pattern, I couldn't muck around with the overall design, but I did increase the length by 1½" and omitted the collar and waist tabs for a more 'mature' look.
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| I swear the hem hangs properly - I just don't know how to stand up straight |
This pattern isn't as short as I originally thought. I had visions of a Twiggy-style mini dress, but actually lengthening it by just a small amount takes it to just above the knee on me which I'm happy with. Size-wise, I cut a straight size 4, but ended up taking in the waist and hips significantly. So I'd say the fit of my finished version is a 4 at the bust and a 3 everywhere else. In terms of construction, it's straight forward if you pay attention to the instructions. The pattern comes with full colour photos of key steps which really help with some of the less run-of-the-mill techniques such as the raglan sleeves and French darts. Here's a tip: although there's actually an instruction that tells you to "stay stitch the neckline and raglan sleeve lines", I still only stay stitched the necklines. There's even a photo showing you the step for goodness sake, what more did I need?! In my defence, I think it was just habit, I see the words "stay stitch" and associate them with necklines (or waistlines). I did realise before it was too late and stay stitched the raglan sleeves - make sure you do too! If you've never made raglan sleeves before, don't worry - the pieces fit together perfectly so you can't go wrong.
My other piece of advice with this pattern is to choose your fabric carefully. I, of course, did not and learnt the hard way. The dress has French darts which are large, diagonal darts coming up from the waist. They take up a lot of fabric so you don't want anything too bulky or you'll get an unsightly bulge. The fabric I used for Francoise is a lovely, heavyweight crepe in a sort of sea green. I was actually fabric shopping with Tilly when I bought it, and even though she told me it might be a bit heavyweight for the darts, I totally ignored her and went ahead and bought it (I'm stubborn like that). I don't regret it as the fabric is simply goy-jus, but she was absolutely right, there was way too much fabric for a smooth line, even on the bust darts. I ended up cutting all my darts up the middle, trimming them down and pressing them open flat. This worked, but does leave the dart edges unfinished. A small price to pay for a nice, flat dart though!
My other piece of advice with this pattern is to choose your fabric carefully. I, of course, did not and learnt the hard way. The dress has French darts which are large, diagonal darts coming up from the waist. They take up a lot of fabric so you don't want anything too bulky or you'll get an unsightly bulge. The fabric I used for Francoise is a lovely, heavyweight crepe in a sort of sea green. I was actually fabric shopping with Tilly when I bought it, and even though she told me it might be a bit heavyweight for the darts, I totally ignored her and went ahead and bought it (I'm stubborn like that). I don't regret it as the fabric is simply goy-jus, but she was absolutely right, there was way too much fabric for a smooth line, even on the bust darts. I ended up cutting all my darts up the middle, trimming them down and pressing them open flat. This worked, but does leave the dart edges unfinished. A small price to pay for a nice, flat dart though!
My fabric was also a bit troublesome in other areas - I realised my neck facing was far too bulky (after stitching it in place) so ended up finishing the neckline with bias binding instead. It looks fine, but doesn't have the clean, stitch-free finish you'd get with a facing.
You could also cut your facing from a lighter weight fabric (Liberty Tana lawn is a perfect weight) or just choose the correct weight fabric in the first place. However, once I got past my bulky fabric woes, I had a finished dress I was really pleased with. I think it's chic, classy and grown up but still retains a vintage edge. The French darts create a surprisingly flattering shape, which is a big bonus for those of us with curves!
The Francoise pattern was given to me free of charge for pattern testing. All views my own.
