I am always search for work wear – and bonus points when it’s comfy work wear! When the Phoebe Dress from Sew Over It came out, I knew it was one I wanted to try. While I don’t normally sew many dresses, I really love the silhouette on this pattern and think it looks a bit like a skirt + top which was part of my excitement about it!
The Phoebe Dress is a super simple and easy to sew dress that makes it a great first knit project for sewists. It is designed with only a few pieces and to pair both a lightweight and a heavier way jersey. It’s designed to be color blocked and the light weight jersey is gathered at the waist to make it look like a pencil skirt + a top.
I see this dress as a great use of all those knit scraps we all have from other projects. Requiring only a small amount for the center panel, you can pair it with a ponte knit and have a fun dress! Now that I’ve made up this dress, I’m going to start thinking about other jersey scraps I have to use as another Phoebe dress.
The pattern came together really quickly – especially because it only had a few pieces to assemble. It is designed to have a button + loop closure which I omitted. It took a little bit of adjusting to remove the cut out but it was a simple adjustment. Other than that, I didn’t make any adjustments to the pattern. I do have short legs and was happy with where the pattern hit me. If you’re taller, you might want to consider lengthening it.
I loved how comfortable this dress was one I made it. Because it’s all knit fabric, it is kinda like secret pajamas!
Sew Over It’s patterns are always so pretty and put together. I’ve made quite a few of them and have never been disappointed. The Phoebe Dress is another one that I know will get a lot of wear in my closet.
My favorite part of the dress is the sleeves. I wear a sweater to work almost every day, but sometimes I want to take off my sweater and prefer not to have a sleeveless top on without a sweater. Therefore, I am always searching for work clothes that have a cap sleeve or something similar so that I can take my sweater off and still feel appropriately dressed for work.
For this dress, I used a ponte knit for the skirt and sleeves and a Ikat ITY print for the bodice. I love the pattern for the bodice and feel that it’s really balanced out by the navy ponte.
Ponte knits are one of my favorite knits to keep in my stash. There are always so many good uses for them. Cali Fabrics has tons of different colors which are great to use for different dress and even pant patterns. Another great Sew Over It pattern for ponte knits is the Heather Dress – another work favorite of mine!
I am now dreaming of all the other Phoebe Dresses I could make – wouldn’t this multi colored ikat be fun? Or a leopard print?
What are you favorite work wear patterns? Any that you think are secret pajamas (don’t worry, I won’t tell your coworkers!)