Simplicity 8014: my new favourite shirt dress

Earlier this year while it was still summer here in Australia I finally got around to making a pattern that had been in my stash for a while - Simplicity 8014 shirt dress. If you google this pattern number it throws up many great dresses made by lots of other ladies, so I really don't know why I waited so long to make it.

This is quite a simple pattern with a few great variations:

I particularly like view A and B because that waist seam is a god send for those with sway backs, and the flared skirt is also great for a pear shape.

I did a slight narrow shoulder and forward shoulder adjustment which I do to all patterns, and graded out from the bust to two sizes larger at the hips - all of which are pretty standard changes for me.

I've made this out of black heavy weight linen from The Fabric Store - it's really great quality and didn't lose any colour when I did a hot pre-wash to shrink it before sewing. Being linen it did wrinkle after a full day of wear in the office (back in the good old days when we went into our offices on the regular), but nothing too outrageous:

Before I made this version though I firstly made view B which is essentially exactly the same but it just has a mandarin collar made by leaving the collar off and just sewing on the collar stand. It makes it look quite different without a collar, probably because it seems natural to wear it buttoned up completely instead of open like the collared version:

This fabric is also linen, bought online from Super Cheap Fabrics that I bought during one of their sales. It's also great quality - the colours didn't run when I washed it and it has a great weight and opaqueness for a dress.

I didn't try to pattern match at all, but it's not obvious in this busy print. And even without wearing a belt this one sits nicely around my waist and the two small waist pleats (not darts) don't fluff out too much.

Please excuse the dirty pool in the above photos - these were taken in February while we were still having those awful bushfires and the slight amount of rain we got washed all the ash and dust into the pool and everywhere else. We're now having a wet May and with all else that has happened last summer feels like a lifetime ago.

So overall this is a really great pattern that I can highly recommend. I'm thinking about trying the other view as well because I think it would be a more casual style which would definitely suit these current times, but I'm not so sure it will look as good on my pear shape.