Loose and casual silhouetted dresses are a must-make for any trans-seasonal wardrobe, allowing for merino layers underneath on chilly days and breezy bare legs in warmer weather. We spotted the Courtney Dress by Hubba Ding patterns recently and knew it would be a dream match for crisp cotton poplin! Tiered dresses are the ultimate in comfort (no-cling!) and this pattern offers sewists a playful way to tap into this popular trend. Read on for our review, kindly modeled by Amy from our Online Team.
Pattern Review
Courtney Dress — Hubba Ding Patterns
Courtney is a loose-fitting style with bodice buttons, a subtle drop shoulder, and balloon sleeves that are elasticated at the wrists. The skirt has two gathered tiers and falls to just above the knee and the pattern comes in NZ sizes 6 - 24. We think this would be super simple to hack too, if you fancied a slightly longer look, you could add another tier to the skirt! We made up a size 8 dress for Amy, according to her bust measurement. The fit is true to size and the project was very quick and easy to sew, definitely suitable for a novice sewist as Hubba Ding suggests. We used 2.8 m of Zebra Print Cotton Poplin - Ink and love the fresh crisp feel this gives the silhouette! This is a narrow fabric at 111cm wide, so we had to split the lower hem panel into three with simple seams to join. A handy aspect of this pattern are the dimensions that are given for the rectangular pattern pieces, so you don't have to print out all of the pages - a great way to save on paper! For finishing touches on the front placket we used 4x Dark Recycled 15mm Paper Buttons, available in stores and online.
The Courtney Dress is available in PDF format only, from the Hubba Ding Etsy store here.
Fabric Recommendations
Zebra Print Cotton Poplin - Ink
Hubba Ding recommend light to medium weight woven fabrics with a good drape for the Courtney Dress. We think patterns like this are a great way to add a fun print or check to your wardrobe, and love these light to medium weight cottons below. From top to bottom is our Tea Rose Stretch Cotton Sateen, Biro Small Paisley Cotton, Gingham Cotton / Silk Voile, Midnight - Segment Spot Cotton Shirting & Chocolate Small Polka Dot Cotton Sateen
We'd highly recommend this project for a newbie sewist! Hubba Ding has some handy video tutorials on their website too, sharing sewing tips for various steps of the Courtney, as well as their other patterns.
Check out inspo with #CourtneyDress and don't forget we'd love to see your makes over on Instagram and TikTok!