I’m over halfway through my pregnancy and am really running out of clothes to wear.  My mother had picked up this pattern to use to make a dress for my sister during her pregnancy, and she lovingly passed it on to me.  I’m not usually one for following pre-made patterns, but thought, why not give it a try?  So here goes nothing!  Read along for my latest jaunt into Pattern Adventures: Review of Simplicity’s 1360.

The skinny:

This pattern has this funky little twist in the front bodice, to help form the v-neckline and flatter the top of the tummy and that was the most difficult part of the pattern.  The directions are slightly confusing and though the pictures are generally helpful, they were also confusing with this one section.  Trial and error helped me figure it out.

Review of Simplicity Pattern 1360:

Overall, I enjoyed the Simplicity Pattern 1360.  It is clever and interesting and makes for a nice flowy spring/summer dress.  I give this pattern a B+.

I followed the directions as they were written, with one noticeable exception.  I see that patterns always call for sewing the sleeves and sides of the dress up before attaching the sleeves to the bodice.  I find that it is way easier to sew the sleeves to the bodice, and then sew from the bottom of the sleeves, along the sleeves, down the armpits, and then down the sides of the dress.  This just gives a nice clean line and keeps the material from getting weird and funky.  So I did that here.

In addition, I found that there were areas along the edges of the fabric pieces that never saw a stitch.  Luckily I used a nice knit material, but if I was to use this pattern again, I would zigzag or do an overlock stitch along the edges of all the pieces of fabric prior to sewing just to ensure that there would be no fraying.

After finishing the dress, I decided to add some inseam pockets which you can also do via my Inseam Pockets Tutorial.  This made the dress much more comfy overall.