Today I’ve got the Ravine Dress from Papercut Patterns because, like many of us, I pretty much fell in love with all of Papercut’s Geo Collection the moment I saw it. So far, I’ve already sewn the Sierra Jumpsuit and I have both the Palisade Pants and Meridian Dress ready to sew!
I also felt similarly with the Sakura collection the previous year!
I have to say that I really enjoy the way that Papercut release their patterns in collections. I have full respect that, for a small indie company, it must be a tremendous amount of work. I also think that they do a great job of releasing inter-seasonal clothes which can work whichever hemisphere you live in. Optional sleeves and fabric choices mean that the same patterns can be both winter warm and lightweight free-flowing for summer. Being an Australian living in Europe, it’s definitely evident that most indie pattern companies design solely for Northern hemisphere markets/timing, so I find Papercut a lot more inclusive in this regard (although those almost-teenage waif-like models who feature on their site certainly don’t scream inclusivity!).
For me, the Ravine Dress was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment sewing decision. I feel like a bias cut dress or skirt is a staple slightly-fancy wardrobe item that I’ve never actually tried.
So why not give it a go?
Meter Meter Love
Both the Ravine Dress pattern and this lovely crepe were gifted to me by Meter Meter** (you can read more on disclosure below).
This tencel geo crepe is part of the MeetMILK sustainable collection. Featured here are the white (duh!) and sky colourways.
The defining characteristic of crepe is the way that one of the weaves is deliberately twisted to create a textured design and I really like the subtly geometric pattern that this Geo Crepe features. It is buttery soft and drapes very well. It’s definitely a quite lightweight fabric though and the white is rather transparent.
Ravine Dress: Diagonal Dangers!
I have to confess that there is something I hadn’t fully understood when embarking on this project. Having never made a bias cut skirt or dress before, I hadn’t realized that there was no waist seam in the dress.
I had imagined that underneath the tie waist belt there was a waist seam, which I had thought was going to provide me with a bit more flexibility to play around with how I wanted to block my two colors.
But, no, there is no waist seam. All the blue you see on the top half of my body (both back and front) is one enormous bias cut bodice piece that wraps around the body. Then, there is one huge white piece that makes up most the skirt, then a further small triangle that you see in blue at the front. Sorry, that’s all probably very obvious to all of you, but it hadn’t quite dawned on me that that’s how it works!
My Ravine Dress
Turning to practicalities, my Ravine Dress is a size Medium.
The tencel geo crepe from Meter Meter was a great match for the Ravine Dress. The drape is just perfect. Although, I must to confess that the finished dress is so lightweight that I’m still having thoughts as to whether it would be a better match to take of the sleeves and make it a sleeveless summer-only number.
What do you think?
One word of warning (since basically the only reason I maintain this blog is to encourage people not to make the same stupid mistakes as me) is to be very careful with the grain line. I wasn’t as careful as I should have been and this has caused a little bit of unsightly rippling along some seams, as well as causing me some grief while trying to bias bind the neckline.
If I do go back in and take of the sleeves, I think I’ll also unpick and re-do the neckline because there is definitely some puckering which is very obvious with such a light fabric.
But this was all definitely self-induced because I should have cut more carefully!
My only other addition is that the Ravine Dress includes an optional shoulder strap. While I have seen some versions popping up without the strap, I have quite sloped shoulders and I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, that these sleeves and shoulders would be falling off me entirely were it not for the security of the shoulder strap. On my body, this is definitely an essential option.
Well, I think I’m all out on the Ravine Dress. Now that I’ve gotten the hang of how the pattern is laid out, I think there are definitely some interesting things which could be done with pattern direction on this one. And I’m dreaming of a lightweight linen one for summer…
Ravine Dress Under Things
The only other practicality I would urge you to think about more than I did is what you will wear underneath. The combination of a low cut back with a fine fabric like this crepe creates some major visible underwear potential… Given the white colour I’ve used on the bottom, as well as the lightweight nature of the crepe in general, I definitely need some form of full coverage underwear underneath.
In fact, it’s got me thinking that what I really need for these kind of eventualities is a totally luxe simple silk slip. I’ve got the Sadie Slip Dress from Tessuti Patterns floating around my mind…
Do you think a silk slip a worthwhile sewing investment? Does anyone else get much wear out of something similar?
** Disclosure: on this blog, I will always tell you if I have received a pattern and/or fabric free of charge, rather than paid for it myself. Apart from receiving the fabric and pattern free from Meter Meter, I received no remuneration for this post and Meter Meter did not ask me to write this post, nor see its content in any way. These are entirely my own opinions and views!
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This looks beautiful on you. As the sleeves are white perhaps they might be good for a more covered summery option?
I think anything that makes you feel more comfortable wearing something you love is a yes, so if a slip would help you with that then yes definitely make one. What about one in handkerchief linen for summer?
I think it’s definitely worthwhile whipping up a silk slip, especially since you’re such a speedy and prolific sewist! I’ve always worn RTW slips under double knit dresses so I can wear them with tights, and this year I made a stretch lining slip using the same pattern as my navy ribbed jersey dress (I originally cut it first as lining for the dress, then realised it was too body con and wanted to size up for the shell, so decided to keep the lining separate as a slip that works with any dress using the same pattern). It goes so much better under the garment than any RTW one would, and every time I wear the dress I’m happy I made it.
Think of the investment of time as being like sewing the lining of a dress (which you wouldn’t begrudge), but that gets exponentially more wear than any one dress.
I love the movement of those seams around your body! You could always see how far you get into autumn/winter until the weight becomes unpractical, and then decide whether to remove the sleeves come summer. On the other hand would you want to wear a dress that requires a slip or big, probably warm, undies in the summer?! It’s a head-scratcher!
Hello! Thanks for your informative blog post. I’m condsidering making the Ravine dress and the fabric I’m looking at is a bit sheer. Do you think it’s relatively simple to underline?
I’d be a bit worried about the multiple layers of bias cut fabric and how it would drape against each other. I would maybe think about just wearing a slip underneath… But maybe I’m being paranoid and it would be fine!