The Surprise Hit of the Summer! The Rosetta Dress by Pattern & Cloth

I’ve sewn quite a few things for my daughter over the years, including a fair amount of ‘fancy’ dresses. They’ve all had some love but nothing, I repeat, nothing like the amount of love my daughter has for this dress pattern; the ‘Rosetta Dress’ by children’s designer Pattern & Cloth. It’s been the undoubted hit of the summer, the first being worn so often that I just had to make a second so she had something else she wanted to wear!

And I can see why she loves it. Made up in a fabric like viscose, it is breathable, swishy, unrestrictive and sufficiently boho in design to be ‘cool’. Her father loves it too, it’s modest yet still girly, provides enough cover to protect from the sun whilst posing no risk of overheating; it’s perfect as a beach cover up yet also works as a smart enough dress to go out to dinner or attend a birthday party in.

My little diva!

It has lovely design features including an open neck with ties, loads of gathers at the neckline and flutter sleeves. The fact that the fit is so unrestrictive means it’s super comfy for girls with little pot bellies!

Really, I cannot praise this dress highly enough.

As I say, she wore the first one at every opportunity, I could barely wash and dry it quick enough so a second was hastily made. The first was made in the fab blue viscose kindly gifted to me by Monika (@rocco.sienna) and I think it worked brilliantly for this dress, even though pattern matching that centre front seam added to the time it took to both cut it out and sew it accurately together!

The second, hot pink, fabric I bought from Minerva Crafts…my husband reckons it reminds him of the fabric intercity train seats are covered in. Gah! My daughter chose the print herself and its abstract design meant I didn’t have to worry about matching seams and … quite frankly we girlies love it!

The pattern is designed as a really quick and easy sew. I think it was the first design in the Pattern & Cloth catalogue and the instructions, as written, for the collar might be problematic for an absolute beginner (though I think Amy, the designer, has revised the wording since I bought the PDF). It’s not at all complicated but it helps if you’ve got got some basic idea of collar/neckband construction processes.

For the second dress, I added an extra 1″ to the length as I made this later in the summer and I’d really like it to fit her next summer too!

We had a lot of fun taking the photos…and I think her love of this dress shines through them!

As it’s been such a hit (and I can see myself making a few more of them next summer!), I’ve also downloaded Pattern & Cloth’s ‘Sunday Dress’ which is similarly cut but designed with heavier, colder season, fabrics in mind.

As for these two dresses, they’re still in heavy rotation. As the colder season approaches, we’ll probably add a long sleeve top underneath and thick tights to get even more wear out of them in the coming months.

Until next time

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