Rayon Pensée Dress

If you don’t know this yet, I’m a BIG Deer & Doe fan. The longer I’ve been seriously sewing my own clothes, the more I recognize that certain pattern companies will just resonate way more with me. The two ones that I nearly always love are Deer & Doe and Closet Case Patterns. When the new Deer & Doe patterns were released recently, I was initially really attracted to the Sirocco Jumpsuit (and I may eventually make it). I made myself sit on it for a bit though – I’m trying not to leap on pattern releases to be more considered in my purchasing choices – and after waiting, the one that I felt would be a better addition to my collection was the Pensée Dress. It’s a partial wrap dress that has the overlap in the back instead of the front, and it looked like a quick but flattering make. I’m also often on the lookout for versatile patterns that will work in fabrics like rayon, because I love wearing soft drapey fabrics, but don’t have a huge number of suitable patterns in my collection that also mesh with my style/lifestyle.

I’d been so busy at the end of March/beginning of April that I didn’t get to sew much and I was so tired that the idea of sewing felt exhausting. So I ended up spending my limited free time re-reading fluffy books I’d read before and watching mindless stuff on Netflix. But my sewjo is BACK and with a vengeance! I sewed a gift on Sunday which I’ll share here after it’s delivered in a bit, and on my holiday Monday I assembled the PDF, cut out the fabric, and sewed this Pensée dress start to finish.

The fabric is a rayon from Cotton + Steel, which I feel a little weird about supporting after the complete exodus of their founding five designers and their founding of a new company (Ruby Star Society – I’m very excited for their upcoming releases). But in any case, I got it at Patch intending it for a trial run of this pattern. It’s from Oka Emi’s collection Once Upon a Time, and I really like the spatters mingled with the blobby plus signs. I pre-washed and dried it before cutting into it, but after carrying out the construction methods of the pattern, I think I’ll probably end up hand-washing this dress in future. (Also, excuse the giant aggressive crease I accidentally ironed into my left boob. I didn’t notice until after I took the photos and by then, the light was gone.)

Construction-wise, the dress is interesting! It’s not a true wrap dress because you can’t unwind the whole thing. One side of the overlap is sewn into the seam allowance of the side seam, which I actually really like for the added security against the dress blowing open in the back. (Nova Scotia is pretty darn windy!) The top layer of the overlap is an actual wrap, and there’s a little loop in the side seam for the tie to pass through and keep it at waist level. The reason I say that I probably wouldn’t put it through the washing machine again is because the darts on the front bodice and facing both end up getting cut open and aren’t really enclosed. Everything else except the neckline edge where the facing is attached is finished with serger though, so I’m not too concerned.

For personal wear, I think the neckline is fine, however for a more professional setting I would definitely need to raise the V a bit, as from above my bra is visible. It’s unlikely I would use this in that kind of context though, since the back is so low that I’d have to keep a cardigan on in order to adhere to the school dress code. I’m a big fan of the fact that it’s a low back but doesn’t dip so low that my bra band shows! I’m thinking of making the Cali Faye Esteem dress in the next little bit (maybe next weekend), and I think my bra might be visible on the back of that, but we’ll see! I got this great rayon with 3% spandex in it for $25 so I think it’ll be great for a hopefully-wearable muslin of that pattern. I’ve been intrigued by Cali Faye for a while, since the designer has an athletic build more like mine and the Esteem dress looks great on her.

Do any of you have pattern companies that you gravitate toward or away from? Have any of you tried this pattern or either of the other two in the new Deer & Doe collection? I’m very intrigued by the jumpsuit still!