Check out this brilliant pattern from 1952, kindly loaned to me by Susannah from Cargo Cult Craft. It's for Butterick's famous 'Walk-away' dress, which promised to be so easy to sew that you could 'start it after breakfast... walk-away in it for luncheon'!
We think it would make a great follow on project for our summer dress graduates or simply the perfect tonic to help dressmaking phobics, myself included, simply take the plunge. First stop: get your hands on a copy of the walk-away, reissued in 2006 as B4790 by heading to the Butterick's website, or track down one of its many spin-offs!
What's so great is its complete lack of scary bits. Being essentially just a clever wrap dress, going on over the head and doing up apron-like at the back and buttoning at the front, there is no need tricky stuff like for zips or interling. What's more, with every edge bound in a bias tape (the method taught in our summer dress class) you can feel like you're on a homerun from the start. And with such potential for combining fabrics and bindings, the real task may lay in just selecting your fabrics! Hint: we have lots of bias tape and gorgeous fabrics available in our shop, and you can now book time to use our machines here ;)
Check out these stylish interpretations we spotted online...
Betty Floored's picnic inspired custom version
Vera Vague's stunning reinterpretations are worth a look over on her Etsy store Vogue by Vague!
Another quick sew pattern we found which predates the Walk-away is the One Hour Dress published in the 1920s. The time saving method of working with only rectangles of fabric to make a flapper dress, feels remarkably modern and hassel free and reminds me of those other no nonsense pattern makers DIY Couture, whose pattern books we proudly sell in our shop.
