Hello, all! Hope you’re well! Guys, I’m super excited about this dress! It’s the True Bias Southport Dress, aka, the perfect summer dress! Kelli sent me a copy of the pattern to try- thank you, lady! I can’t say I’m an unbiased (is this a pun? I hope not!) reviewer, though, as I have a total crush on Kelli’s style and seriously love every. single. thing. she makes and designs. Fun fact: the clothes Kelli makes for her daughter basically make up my ideal wardrobe. Plus her daughter’s like 5 years old, but she’s got a better closet and much better hair than me. Seriously, if there’s a better-dressed kid out there, I don’t wanna know about them… I can’t handle that kind of competition! Ooh, that reminds me! There’s a mini Southport dress pattern for kids sizes 4T-10! Check it out!

OK, so, I love this dress. It’s one of those magical patterns that pop up from time to time in the sewing blogosphere that just looks great on everyone who makes it. Don’t believe me? Check out: Meg, Heather, Katie, Jenny, Coco, Lorene, Amanda, and Andrea. How awesome do all these ladies look?!

The dress is sleeveless, with a button placket (but if you checked out the links above, you can see that some people chose to make a non-functional placket, and others to omit the placket altogether and just cut out the bodice on the fold). There’s a knee-length skirt, or a maxi variation with a front slit. I decided to do a maxi this time… go big or go home, right?

The dress was easy to sew, and the instructions are clear. I really like the way that the drawstring casing is formed- it’s very tidy and looks really professional. My only regret is that I used packaged bias tape instead of making my own. I had some in my stash that was the perfect color, so I was excited to use it, but it’s much stiffer than this rayon challis. Whoops! Speaking of rayon challis, this ridiculous Hawaiian print came from Fabrics for Less on 39th Street. My buddy Sam gave me a “special deal” on the fabric- the price marked on the sign, ha! It’s a pretty stupid print, but I love it!

To summarize: I love this dress. You should make one. Everyone should make one! I’ll just leave you guys with the Man Friend review:

“I don’t hate it. [pause] I hate parts of it. It looks like pants. Is that, like, a thing people do?”

Whatever, Man Friend, I love it!