
Hello Friends,
Today I am back with reviews on the mother daughter dresses from yesterday. First up is the dress I made for myself, OOP Butterick 4657, which is a Maggy London design.

The suggested fabrics for this dress are chiffon, georgette, charmeuse and crepe back satin. Ordinarily, cotton maybe too bulky to make this dress work, but of course, I was not using “ordinary” cotton, but rather, the extraordinary Liberty Cotton lawn, which is fine and soft.
The whole dress is underlined with a fine cotton lawn, and the same cotton lawn used to line the dress as well. I used the finest, softest interfacing I could get my hands on to preserve the drape of the lawn. Here are some inside shots:


I think I cut close to 70 individual pieces of fabric and interfacing to make this dress. Overlays of the fashion fabric are gathered on to the interfaced underlining, which acts as a stay for the gathered fashion fabric, and then the lining is sewn in.


Oh yes, I didn’t use the skirt that the pattern comes with. I swapped it out for a softly gathered one instead.



Overall, I was proud of myself for completing this dress. I think the fit is good….IF I ever made this dress again (unlikely!) I would perhaps make it slighly smaller in the shoulders. But this is a classic dress made in a classic fabric that I will be happy to wear over and over when we finally get some warmer weather. The midriff section makes it very flattering. I think I might even enter it in the Sew Dolly Clackett contest as I think Roisin would look fabulous in a dress like this!
Pattern Review:
Pattern Description:
Dress in two lengths has wrapped gathered front and sleeves, gathered middle section, back zipper and flared skirt with shaped hemline. A: knee length. B: mid-calf length.
Pattern Sizing:
6 – 20
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
The bodice part, yes. I substituted the skirt for a different one.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love the overall shaping. It is very feminine and flattering, with the ruched overlays and the midriff section. The instructions tell you to sew in an invisible zip, which I did, and it does work, but there is quite a lot of bulk at the midriff area. I don’t know if a hand picked zip would be better? Be warned, I cut close to 70 individual pieces for this dress, including underlining, interfacing and lining.
Fabric Used:
Liberty cotton lawn outer fabric; cotton lawn for the underlining and lining and a very very light, fine interfacing. You can read about the fabric I used here.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
1 inch sway back alteration. Raised the front by 1.5 cm. Changed the skirt to a softly gathered one.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Doubt I will sew again. I would recommend it, although the pattern is now OOP. I think it would also make a fab wedding dress.
Conclusion:
I classic, feminine dress made from a classic Liberty print. Love it!

Sensational!! Love the print even more seeing it close-up.
Thanks Ange.
Prettiest dress ever! Inside and out! Love it!
Thank you Catty
Gorgeous, but 70 Pieces????!!!!!
Thanks Mia. Believe it! 🙂
Lovely as always 🙂
My mum used to make herself and me matching dresses when I was little and I loved it! So I can understand where your little one is coming from :)x
Aww thanks dawn.
Lovely! It looks beautifully finished and I’m totally impressed you had the patience to deal with 70 pieces!
Thanks Sam. I think breaking it down into little tasks helps!
Love Liberty lawn! It’s such a pretty spring-time dress.
Hi! I just joined the Sew Dolly Clackett Flicker group and saw your pretty dress! It’s a lovely make, and suits you beautifully! Well done!
Thank you so much colourful canvas.