I think I may have found my definition of the perfect dress.

Meet the Fibre Mood Agatha Dress from issue 10 of Fibre Mood magazine.

I actually started out with pretty low expectations. I had seen some versions I liked but wasn’t really sure if this would be too much for me. Well, it is kind of a lot (slight wedding dress vibes, right?) but I looooove it so much.

And it’s astonishingly comfortable.

And twirly.

Really, what’s not to love?

My Fibre Mood Agatha Dress

My version of the Fibre Mood Agathat Dress is a size 14.

Based on my measurements, I was a size 14 at the bust and an 18 at waist and hips. After checking the finished garments measurements it was clear that it is fitted immediately under the bust but then has plenty of ease at both the waist and hips, so I felt confident making the size 14.

Sizewise, it is perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing for any future versions.

My fabric is a viscose blend jersey from my local big box store. I was kind of thinking of this as being an inexpensive muslin for a future version when I found the right fabric (is it just me or is it really hard to find nice printed jersey with drape and flow?) and am pleasantly amazed by how much I like it.

For the record, I only had 3 metres, which is slightly less than recommended, but was able to make it work. To fit the large skirt, however, I had to cut on the cross-grain (is it really a grain in a knit fabric? Probably not, but you know what I mean), so make sure that your jersey has sufficient stretch in both directions.

I made a few very minor changes, I wanted it to be as long as possible, so I extended the skirt length to that of the longest size in the pattern.

It’s also slightly longer yet again because – here’s a real sewing secret – I didn’t bother hemming this!

At all!!

My overlocker is pretty useless these days and only properly functions about 30% of the time. And, well, the day I was sewing this was not one of those days. So after about an hour of fighting my overlocker so that it could trim the edge and I could do a tiny turned-up microhem, I decided, screw it. It’s fine as it is.

Who knows, on a day when my overlocker decides to work, perhaps I could return to it?

(Yeah, sure, but the pretense that it’s possible leaves me better able to justify my laziness)

I also added some elastic for additional support, since the skirt is pretty heavy and I was worried about how it would last over time. I sewed some inch wide elastic directly to the inner waistband (the same length as the waistband itself, not gathering it in anyway). Then I also sewed clear elastic into the seam which connects the waistband and skirt.

I feel that these little steps of elastic-help make me feel that the skirt is very secure and well supported and will hopefully help it to stand the test of time.

Sewing the Fibre Mood Agatha

I found the Fibre Mood Agatha a straight forward sew.

The hardest part wasn’t sewing at all but piecing the skirt together from the pattern sheets in the magazine.

Just in case anyone else is equally bamboozled, here is a picture of how it all goes together, indicating in brackets which on pattern sheet you will find the piece.

Also it took me a while to realize that although the list of pattern pieces refers to the skirt front and back as being pieces 6 and 7 respectively, the front and back skirt are identical.

It took me a while to get to this point. I started, then got so confused that I thought, screw this, I’m going to just get it as an A0 and send it to the printer. Then my printer’s website was down, so I took a deep breathe, told myself “you’ve got this Beck, act like a grown up, you can figure it out”.

And then I proceeded to cuss and throw paper around for a good hour or so, as what I thought would be a 15 minute job turned into a full blown adult tantrum.

Did I mention I also ran out of ink, paper and sticky tape at various moments of the process?

Sometimes you should just put the sewing away and wait another day!

But it was all worth it in the end, look how she twirls…

Fibre Mood Agatha love

I totally didn’t expect to fall for this dress as much as I have.

Not only is it wonderfully comfy but there are just so many features I love. A full-on swirly skirt but without any gathers. A dramatic but secure v-shaped neckline.

And did I mention it has pockets?

And, finally, those sleeves. These are actually probably my favourite feaure of the dress. I’ve never sewn a floaty flutter type sleeve before and was a little surprised by the pattern piece to see that they are actually basically just a semi-circle. But I love how that works out on the body. It gives coverage that I like over the upper arm, but is in no way restrictive and allows plenty of cooling breeze around the under arm.

Aeration, anyone?

Sewing the Fibre Mood Agatha also makes me think about how far the indie sewing pattern world has come. Do you remember back in the days when Colette’s Moneta and Tilly and the Buttons’ Coco were just about the only offerings for knit dresses?

Not to knock either of them but, ahhhh, we’ve come a loooong way and I love that there are now so many options to let each of us find the knit dress that just gives us that “ah-ha, this is easy dressing perfection!”.

Now, I just need to find a sunny beach to wear this on…

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.