Pattern testing: the Tic Tac Toe Dress

If you've been reading this blog over the past few months you'll know that I've sewn two versions of a self-drafted dress, one in a bambiblauw panel and one in a 70s-style floral print. Well, my self-drafting days are over, because Suz of Sewpony has released a new pattern that's exactly what I've been looking for: a vintage-style dress with a fitted bodice, gathered skirt, generous pockets and piping. Best of all, I got to test it!

The Tic Tac Toe dress comes with loads of options: simple bodice, pieced bodice or piped bodice; rounded back neckline or v-back; sleeveless, ruffle sleeves, puffed sleeves or long sleeves; full or half collar; epaulettes; optional ribbon tie. There's a blog tour going on at the moment, and today you can see some beautiful puffed-sleeved and collared versions over at Amelie and Atticus and a gorgeous one with epaulettes at Inspinration. I made the sleeveless Tic Tac Toe with a v-back and a piped bodice and I really love the way the lines of piping extend into the curve of the pockets.

The pattern has been tweaked a bit since I made my tester version, but I have to say, the fit on R is superb. I had to blend sizes to suit R's proportions, so I made size 4 width with size 8 length. The bodice is lined and Suz has an ingenious way of sandwiching the invisible zipper edges between the lining and the outer, which makes for a very neat finish (why, oh why have I been hand-sewing the lining to the zipper all this time?). The dress is not a difficult sew, although obviously the more details you add, the more time it takes (but all that piping is well worth it in the end!). For my dress I used cotton drill from Spotlight, with gold spots to match R's gold summer sandals.

I adore the v-back, even if I didn't do the most brilliant job of photographing it. These pics were taken on a furiously windy day and poor R was freezing and windswept. If it hadn't been for the packet of tic tacs I bribed her with (because it's a tic tac dress, you know) there's no way I would have got her outdoors.

Ugh, so blurry! Here's one I took indoors. I really should use thicker lining next time, shouldn't I... but at least you can tell that I was a good girl and cut all my notches as instructed.

R adores her new dress, even if Melbourne's weather isn't cooperating by providing some springtime warmth and sunshine... good thing this girl will do anything for a packet of lollies!

Want to see more Tic Tac Toe dresses? Here are the details of Suz's blog tour so you can check out the many variations of this very versatile pattern:

14 Nov: Metoezie//Bravefabrics//Amore

16 Nov: thirtynine//Inspinration//Amelie+Atticus

18 Nov: MaaiDesign//naadjesendraadjes//gaafmachine

21 Nov: littlecumquat//Petrol&Mint//Idlesunshine

23 Nov: NeedlestoSay//Liivi&Liivi//Soulfedonthread

25 Nov: KaatjeNaaisels//StraightGrain//MadebySara

You can buy the Tic Tac Toe pattern here, with a 10% discount available throughout the blog tour using the code TICTACTOE10 on checkout.