Honeycomb Dress hack sewing pattern.
I am going to start this post by introducing the lovely Sally from Modista Sewing. She is a sweet and talented UK sewist based now in Amsterdam. In her blog, she shares lots of her beautiful makes and she also sends a monthly newsletter packed with discounts and lots of great information about makers in other countries.
Some time ago, Sally contacted me to appear in her newsletter dedicated to Spanish sewists (so honored!) and we agreed to do a collab for the CocoWawa blog. I sent her the Honeycomb Dress at no cost and she made the most amazing version. Want to know more? Find below what Sally wrote about the pattern.
Sally's guest post: Honeycomb Dress hack sewing pattern
"When Ana asked if I would like to have a go at hacking one of her patterns, it was so hard to choose between her lovely styles but I couldn’t say no to the Honeycomb. I love dresses and particularly patterns with a lot of potential for variations and different occasions, and this sweet shirt dress really fitted the bill.
As usual my research for the make started with the hashtag #cwhoneycombdress and I saw a lot of gorgeous summer versions of the dress but not so many autumn/winter versions. The exception was Kathy’s at Sew Dainty which really caught my attention and I knew I had to make a swishy autumn Honeycomb! I used some stunning viscose I’d recently purchased from The Rag Shop which has a lovely dark red cherry blossom print and a wonderful drape.
I couldn’t shake the idea of a pussy bow style collar on the Honeycomb, inspired by some of the retro shirt dresses I’d seen on Pinterest. To recreate this, I just needed to extend the collar piece to make it around 2.5 times its original length. On this piece, I notched the original collar piece edges
To attach the collar, firstly fold it right sides together and stitch around the edges, leaving the gap between the two notches. Then, clip the corners, trim the seam allowance and turn it right side out. Press.
Line up the collar right sides together with the neckline, matching the edges of the neckline to the notches. Fold the upper collar piece out of the way so you are just stitching one layer of the collar to the neckline. Then press the seam allowance up into the collar. Next, fold the upper collar seam allowance inwards and bring the folded edge down to the stitch line, where you can blind or machine stitch it down.
I had done a toile before sewing and found I needed a minor armhole adjustment, which I’d read in other reviews of the pattern too. To do this I marked 1.5cm in from the top of the arm hole, and drew a straight line from here down to the waistline. For a future Honeycomb I might also raise the armhole slightly which is quite a straightforward adjustment – there’s a good tutorial here.
Another edit I would do next time is to make the extended collar even longer and perhaps widen it at the ends. This would make for a stronger pussybow effect as at the moment the tie isn’t as dramatic as I would like.
Overall though I am THRILLED with my Honeycomb. It’s a really versatile garment and so comfortable in viscose – it would be ideal both for work or going out in the evening, when we eventually can! I would love to do this hack again in a plain viscose for work, or try the dress in a cotton lawn for a more structured look.
I hope this post inspires you to try your own Honeycomb hack!"
And that's it from Sally. Thank you so much for reading her dress sewing pattern guest post and don't forget to follow her at Modista Sewing!
Happy sewing and see you soon!
Ana
xxx