Staff Made

SQ Charlottes Damsel Dress Front Walking Smiling Up

Charlotte's Damsel Dress

Posted
05—June 2024

This week we feature team member Charlotte's incredible violet dress, made using the Damsel pattern from Robert Woods!

Staff Made — Charlotte's Damsel Dress
Jun 5 2024

We're blown away by this incredible iteration of the Damsel Dress made by online team member Charlotte! This pattern by Robert Woods features some unique construction methods for creating a bodice with a shirred-look, which Charlotte has sewn beautifully. Read on for photos, project details and fabric recommendations!

Charlottes Damsel Dress Front Looking Side
Charlottes Damsel Dress Close Front
SQ Charlottes Damsel Dress Outside Front
The Damsel takes it's name from the shapes of it's bow pattern pieces, reminiscent of dragonflies / damselflies!
Charlottes Damsel Dress Close Back Bows
Charlottes Damsel Dress Front Bows
Pattern Notes

Pattern Used — Damsel Dress By Roberts Wood

The Damsel Dress pattern is part of a mini-collection by Roberts Wood of garments designed to be cut from repurposed fabric, and explores unique and interesting construction methods. The dress features a structured, fitted, elasticated bodice with a full skirt and 3D bows. Roberts Wood suggest that the design method allows the maker to fully customise the fit of the garment to create a piece to their exact body requirements. If this sounds a little different that patterns you've used before, we'd recommend reading through the size information given here before you begin.

Charlotte usually wears an NZ size 14/16, and she chose the size 4 in this pattern based on her measurements. She choose our Organic Cotton / Silk Voile in the colour Violet and decided to line the entire dress due to the semi-sheer opacity, using 9 metres in total. Also required was a 40cm invisible zip and 13m of 19mm wide elastic. As you can imagine, this dress was a time-consuming project requiring great attention to detail, but Charlotte said the end result was well worth it! She would place the difficulty level closer to advanced, due to the method of construction used. She made very few changes to the pattern — adding only the interfacing and a layer of dupion silk to her bows, to give them structure in the soft voile.

If you'd like to try this pattern out, we'd highly recommend making a toile first. A garment like the Damsel Dress is ultra special and very much worth taking the extra time to perfect the detailing.

Download the PDF Damsel pattern from the Roberts Wood website here.

Charlottes Damsel Dress Close Front Neckline
Charlottes Damsel Dress Side Holding Skirt
Damsel Dress Stack
Fabric Suggestions

Roberts Wood suggest the Damsel pattern would suit repurposed lightweight fabrics. The large pattern-pieces are designed to be cut cross-grain, from repurposed fabric such as silk curtains or cotton sheets. Most non-stretch lightweight fabrics with some structure would fit the bill, think silk dupion, silk taffeta, or lightweight cottons. Charlottes silk cotton voile blend was a little on the softer side, giving the silhouette more drape. Pictured above are a few suggestions from our Online Store!

From top to bottom is Cotton/Silk Voile - Citrus, Cotton Voile - Orange Glow, Crisp Gingham Cotton - Scarlett, Cotton Voile - Forgetmenot and Regency Stripe Cotton Silk Voile - Sangria.

Charlottes Damsel Dress Back Holding Skirt Spin
Charlottes Damsel Dress Outside Front Portrait
SQ Charlottes Damsel Dress Front Holding Skirt

We absolutely love this pattern + bold colour pairing by Charlotte! Check out more of Charlotte's makes here on the blog. We love seeing your projects come to life! Share your creative process with us over on Instagram using #WeAreTheFabricStore

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Location — New Zealand