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Just to start out by breaking the blogging fourth wall, this is the second time I’ve written this blog post. The first time, it was full of insight, wit, charm and enthusiasm. I had finished it all and was just clicking back to another page to copy and paste my sign off. And I somehow forgot to save it and the entire thing just disappeared.

And so now I am rewriting it all. So if that sewing “joie de vivre” seems a little dimmed in this post, please don’t hold against these fabrics or patterns, which are entirely wonderful.

OK. Breathe in. Breathe out. Think of pretty fabrics.

Calm down.

And get to the point!

Let’s talk about winter sewing!

It often takes me a while to make the seasonal shift from summer to autumn/winter sewing, but once I do, I always find my rhythm in which the thick cosy comfort of winter fabrics really start to speak to me.

Today it’s all about flannel and I’ve actually got a couple of projects to share with you. The Oversized Shirt by The Assembly Line extended in length to be a shirt dress, made out of Robert Kaufman cotton flannel. And a wool flannel made into a Deer and Doe Myosotis dress, which draws significant inspiration from the Fibre Mood Feliz dress.

And, yes, in case you’re wondering, I had already put all the links and photos into the first draft of this blog post before it mysteriously vanished into the ether.

The Assembly Line Oversized Shirt as a Shirt Dress

This shirt dress, however, is anything but ethereal.

Nope, it is thick and chunky and as solid as it comes.

This Assembly Line Oversized Shirt is made out of Robert Kaufman Durango Check in the chestnut colourway. I purchased it from Faberwood, who have the best range of flannel fabrics I’ve discovered on this side of the Atlantic. I love their selection and I’m so bummed that I only discovered Faberwood just before Brexit 🙁

Still, at least I managed to get this beauty before it was all over!

Since I first sewed the Assembly Line Oversized Shirt, I knew I wanted to try a flannel shirt dress using the pattern. You can read all the details of this make in that first post. I’m using the pattern in size L. I’m also really happy to point out that since I first made the Oversized Shirt, the Assembly Line have updated things so that, for PDF purchases, it is now possible to buy the complete size range not just XS-L or XL-3XL which is wonderful. The 3XL size caters to a maximum hip/seat of 139cm.

This Oversized Shirt Dress was inspired by another winter make this year which I have not wanted to take off: a flannel Olya Shirt Dress.

I absolutely love that garment but matching checks across the front yoke was tricky. So it was the simplicity of The Assembly Line Oversized Shirt which inspired me to use it when I tried to recreate the same basic principle for this flannel.

I lengthened the The Assembly Line Oversized Shirt by 27 cm and added a rectangular fabric belt.

That’s it.

A piece of cake!

And I love it. This flannel is so wonderfully thick and warm, I’ve never touched flannel so warm. If it dress up well with it (merino turtleneck and chunky scarf) I can even get away with wearing this as my outer layer outside in the Dutch winter most of the time, which is fantastic cuz oversized shirts under jackets have potential to be a definite awkward styling moment!

I would say that, on balance, I probably prefer the Olya Shirt Dress in flannel as a shirt and the Oversized Shirt in flannel as a dress. But, I’m also perhaps being a tad unfair as it could be the side seam pockets in the Oversized Shirt (the Olya doesn’t have any) which makes it pull a little bit at the side seam.

All-in-all, though, I really like the way The Assembly Line Oversized Shirt has turned out as a flannel shirt dress. This garment, with its texture, warmth and colouring, just captures autumn and winter dressing.

Frankly, I don’t want to take it off!

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Deer and Doe Myosotis Dress

The next winter fabric to explore is this grey herringbone wool flannel from Meter Meter.

I was very much inspired by the Fibre Mood Feliz dress, but I have to confess (feeling rather guilty here) that I really didn’t want to face tracing it out. Also, in all fairness, I’ve found that some Fibre Mood patterns are not the best fit on my body around the shoulder and arms.

So, I figured, why enter the dangerous zone of “will this fit or not” when I already had a similar shirt dress which fits me well: the Deer and Doe Myosotis.

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You can read about my previous versions of it here and here.

Don’t you love the magic of sewing – how we can make the same pattern look so different!

So, I decided to take the details I liked from Fibre Mood Feliz and import it into the Deer and Doe Myosotis (honestly, Deer and Doe, what were you thinking with the name – that word is such a pain to type 50 times into a blog post – although at least no-one will know that I’m not even sure how to pronounce it!!!).

This Deer and Doe Myosotis Dress is a size 40, with a couple of extra centimetres added at the side seam. I was still happy with the fit of my previous Myosotis dressed but I was nervous about how it would go in this wool which is much more structured than my previous versions, so I added a tad of extra breathing space at the side seam (about 1cm to each side seam). A word of warning, the dress is designed to be worn much more oversized than you see in these pictures. Based on the body measurement chart, I should probably be using a 44 or 46, so this is what the Myosotis dress looks like when sized down (somewhat) for a more fitted look.

To make my Deer and Doe Myosotis meets Fibre Mood Feliz, I’ve added double patch pockets to the bodice and used the sleeve tab from the Fibre Mood Feliz dress (which is just a rectangle!).

The sleeves have been modified signifcantly from those of the original Deer and Doe Myosotis, although these are actually the same sleeves as the floaty billowy ones in my rust version at above, simply cut off at the elbow and modified to include a cuff.

Amazing how different it looks in different fabrics.

The dress you see uses the top tier of the Deer and Doe Myosotis skirt with an additional six inches added. I should have made it a little longer, however, to really emulate Fibre Mood Feliz. I actually left the hem raw as the fabric doesn’t fray and I didn’t want it to be in shorter.

All in all, I’m really happy with this as a wonderful winter dress. I think I will most often style it with a turtleneck underneath.

Even though it’s almost that time of the year when I start to make the switch to warmer weather sewing (do you sew “ahead” for the seasons or do you need the weather to actually change before you switch your sewing mode), I am very glad to have these two comfy, cosy oversized winter warmers to sooth my soul for the remaining couple of months of winter!

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Pheww, I’m done.

Again!!

I promise the first version of this post was better, but, hey, I guess I’d rather f* up a blog post than a sewing project! Could be worse!

If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.