Yaaaassss... my new favorite cocoon dress! And maybe my new favorite dress, period.
Lately I've found myself gravitating towards cocoon and boxy dresses (see Inari, Blaire and Mila, among others). They're just so effortlessly cool, modern and stylish, in addition to being comfortable as hell.
Style Arc's Adeline dress falls into that category, plus it has the added benefit of having a lovely v-neck, a hem facing and cut-on sleeves, some of my favorite features in a pattern.
After seeing a few gorgeous versions online (Lara, Jean, Lauren, Lindsey) I couldn't stop thinking about this dress. I ordered the Adeline dress from Amazon during Style Arc's Black Friday sale (along with like 6 or 7 other patterns. Oops!). For some reason Adeline got to me super quickly, whereas the others are still en route. As a result, she got a headstart on the other patterns, jumping right to the front of my queue...
And I had the perfect piece of fabric in my stash for it: this crinkly, soft, mossy green linen that I bought at Tessuti in Melbourne when I was there a year ago. The fabric's had a year to mature in my stash, waiting for its perfect pattern pairing!
It's possible it could be this linen, but I don't remember exactly, as I was busy swooning over the fabric's color, Tessuti's Boxing Day Sale and running into Lara of Thornberry fame (see photo evidence of our chance meeting here!).
Adeline is really quick sew. A front piece, a back piece (or two, if you want to cut the back with a center seam for shaping), neckline, hem facings, patch pockets. That's it.
The sleeve cuffs are part of the main bodice, just folded back on themselves. These fairly long cut-on sleeves necessitate a wide fabric. I think, though, if you wanted to use a narrower fabric, you could easily cut the rectangular cuff pattern piece off the main body and cut the cuffs from the fabric separately. I may try that for my next Adeline because I have some narrower fabric that would otherwise be perfect for this dress.
I would definitely recommend stay stitching your neckline, and maybe even the hem, right away, as both are liable to stretch out of shape during handling. The instructions don't mention stay stitching and I forgot until after I had sewn the patch pockets on. I think just the act of hanging the bodice off the table and ironing board while placing and sewing the pockets caused some stretching on my neckline- you can see my right hand side isn't laying flat.
Truth be told, though, I got some make-up on that part of the neckline right before taking these photos. I scrubbed it off and used the hairdryer to dry the spot, which may have stretched the neckline out a bit, too! Perhaps it will go back to shape after washing the dress.
Truth be told, though, I got some make-up on that part of the neckline right before taking these photos. I scrubbed it off and used the hairdryer to dry the spot, which may have stretched the neckline out a bit, too! Perhaps it will go back to shape after washing the dress.
Also, this may come as no surprise to most, but for some reason it didn't occur to me: on this cocooon dress, the hem is smaller than the hip! Ladies with hips: beware! I have to shimmy the hem over my hips, but once it's over, all is right with the world (ok, not all is right with the world, far from it... but all is right with the dress).
So, here's my TLDR summary of my Adeline experience: Love it. Love the neckline, the cocoon shape, the faced hem. Will undoubtedly make many more.
