Serendipity Studio Tara Dress

I made these two dresses to wear to Quilt Market in May, and in the flurry of having to make a lot of stuff, I never blogged about them! Which is good timing to blog about them today as I am in the middle of working on a new bag pattern – I pulled out all the stops for this one – so I’m not making anything else new right now to show on the blog.

For my dresses, I used the new Tara Tank Dress sewing pattern by Serendipity Studio, which you can find here. I am also linking to the blog post about the pattern so that you can see all of the other versions here. Although I made mine in my new Jungle Ave. fabrics, sometimes it is nice to see some other versions.

Supplies Needed – There are so many different variations of the dress (different hembands, ruffles, etc.) that your fabric requirements will entirely depend on the length of dress and what types of variations you are using. You will also be making bias tape to finish off the arms and neckline, which I think is a very pretty detail.

Pattern Pieces – There are pattern pieces for the front and back of the bodice and for the skirt. There is also another bodice piece in case your fabric choice is sheer and you would like to line the bodice. I’m not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but the bodice has pleats sewn into it, and so all markings for making the pleats are on the pattern pieces. You can make either a slim skirt or a full skirt (I made the full skirt on both); I like the fabrics to float around me a bit more (like a princess! ha just kidding).

Instructions/Illustrations – Most of the steps are illustrated with hand drawings. I’ve made so many Serendipity Studio patterns before, and I find them easy to understand. There are always loads of variations you can make, and instructions are included in those, but I always seem to opt for the most basic version (I’m not sure if I’m in a hurry or if I do actually like the plainest styles, lol!). Everything is very clearly laid out. Modifications – I didn’t make any modifications to the pattern. I made 2 dresses, one which was shorter so I wear it as a tunic (basically, I just didn’t have enough fabric to make it longer, lol!). Since there is no zipper for this dress and it ties below the bust, it is very easy to fit, and takes away some of the stress of dress-making.

Conclusion – I would definitely make this pattern again. I especially like the bias tape on the arms and neckline (you can choose to have yours shown or hidden, based on how you sew it to the bodice); I chose bright contrasting solids for mine. Definitely a fun pattern to make!