It’s the start of a new year and of course that means new sewing goals. I got pretty burnt out by the end of last year and although I had a great break over the festive season, I wanted to still ease myself into a simple sewing project to kick off 2024. As it’s the peak of summer, I wanted to make something that had super fun summer vibes with the idea I could just pop it on and go off on a fun summery errand. After much pattern consideration and shopping of my stash I finally decided on a very aggressively floral fabric and good old Simplicity 9291 (or Butterick 6453 for those in the cult).

Although it’s been a while, I have made Simplicity 9291/Butterick 6453 before and given it a good review; it used to be one of my go-to patterns and I still consider it a very easy make. I didn’t want to try a new pattern for this project but I just wanted a simple spaghetti strap dress with a nice full skirt. The pattern has princess seams which are super flattering and back darts for a nipped in waist. I also love the fact that the pattern has multiple strap options so I can play around with what I prefer. The only downside I have with this pattern is that it’s not lined and uses facing instead. I don’t know why I’ve never made my own proper lining for this pattern (and I’ve made it over 8 times at least) but I will definitely note that my next attempt will definitely have proper lining instead of just facing.

When it came to deciding on fabric, I knew I wanted something bright, fun and floral from my stash. If you’ve been sewing for a while, you might remember the day that fabric.com just vanished with no notice; well, the day before it did, I just so happened to have found this fabric. For whatever reason, I sometimes leave things in my shopping cart for a day or two to make sure I really want the item before buying, so waking up to find fabric.com and my cart gone I was pretty upset. Alas, the quest to find my rainbow floral fabric from another site began and let me tell you it took me a while to track down. Looking for one particular coloured floral cotton fabric when you don’t completely remember the designer took some time but I eventually found it from Hannas Toowoomba and I could get about 4 meters of it. My chosen fabric for this version of Simplicity 9291 was this gorgeous Michael Miller Rainbow floral cotton.

Sew, let’s get started. As I’ve already fully reviewed the pattern before, I won’t go into too much details. After cutting out my pieces, I interfaced the facing pieces and moved onto my princess seams. If princess seams are something you’d like to try for yourself, this pattern and Vogue 9100 are great at getting to know princess seams. For the shoulder straps, I opted for just normal attached straps as I thought having tie up straps might mean I’m forever trying to fix a shoulder bow and I just don’t have the patience for it right now. This pattern is so straightforward to putting the bodice together took about an hour.

Moving onto the skirt for this particular make I opted for a self drafted circle skirt as I just love the way they look and I want to get better at making them. There was some dispute about skirt length between myself and my partner; I thought about 28 inches long whereas hubby just wanted a basic mini skirt; we compromised and I made a 26 inch long skirt. Looking back I should have just sewn my preferred 27 inch length. I did manage to add pockets to the dress as well as they really do make life so much better. To finish off the dress I added a soft yellow back centre zip and finished up all the seams and hemmed the edge of the skirt. All up this dress took me about an afternoon to complete and it was a great first make of the year.

As I’ve made this dress before I know it fits really well but I am wondering if next time I should play with the bodice a little. Compared to the Vogue 9100 pattern, I’m now wondering if Simplicity 9291 should sit a little lower on my neckline. Perhaps I’m too worried about covering up but I’m also not sure if this dress can be made a little lower. This is all something I will play with in the next attempt. This dress has been a lot of fun to wear and I’ve already taken it on holiday with me despite having no photographic proof of that. I have received a lot of compliments on this dress whilst wearing it out and I think the brightness of the fabric is definitely eye catching and fun.

Sewing this pattern has really made me realise how much I love and miss using this pattern. I am thinking about sewing a few more things throughout the year using this pattern but I am also trying to be aware of the 101 other project ideas I have that I also want to get done. This is a super popular pattern and whole Facebook groups have been dedicated to it just to show off what other people are making using this pattern. If you don’t have this pattern in your stash, even if you don’t sew vintage, this is a great addition and I’ll never stop making it.

Outfit details:
Bike from Kmart (his name is Freddy). I will note I always wear a helmet when riding my bike, I just didn’t have one on me for these pictures.
Earrings from Erstwilder
Hat from Kitten D’Amour
Shoes from Melissa

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.