Gingham Summer Dress – Simplicity/New Look 6022

Now that UK temperatures are reaching the lofty heights of 15°c, it’s definitely time to start planning your spring/summer wardrobe! I’ve had this Simplicity 6022 pattern hanging around for a while and thought that it would make a perfect gingham summer dress.

The pattern is super easy to follow (look at me getting all familiar with dressmaking!) and can be made in all sorts of fabrics. I chose to do variation B, which has short capped sleeves, but you can also make the dress with longer sleeves or no sleeves if you wish. The fabric that I used is a navy/white cotton gingham that I picked up at my local Saturday market – can you believe that it only cost me £4.50? Gingham is generally quite cheap but it’s lovely to wear… even if it does make you feel about 5 years old.

For similar gingham fabric try Minerva Crafts here, Elephant in My Handbag here or Croft Mill here who have some lovellllly looking seersucker ginghams!

The skills you’ll need to make this summer dress pattern include: inserting an invisible zip, creating a button loop, setting sleeves and attaching bias binding. Phew! All of these skills are ones that I’ve learnt from various other dressmaking projects so it was lovely to see them all come together on one garment.

So what do you think? I’ve paired my dress with a belt to give my waist a bit more definition and turned the hem up a bit to make it not quite so long. All I’m missing is a straw hat and a glass of something iced and I’m all set for summer!