I made the Tulip Dress from The Assembly Line, an independent brand who design beautiful minimalist sewing patterns. Their style is Scandinavian and contemporary. I am a trainers and dress kinda girl so I decided to try the Tulip dress and I have to say I absolutely love it. The bodice is semi-fitted which works well. Great to wear in the spring and summer and in the colder months you can add a discrete layer underneath and then pile on you cardigan, coat and so on.

I used our Yellow and Blue Dice Ankara as I really wanted to show that African prints and batiks can be so much fun to work with and wear. For my size and the width of the fabric which is 48 inches, I needed 3 yards.

Here are the things I love about the pattern and end result.

The dress has pockets. Who doesn’t love dresses and skirts with pockets?!
The pattern comes in paper form in a single size. This is actually great because you can cut out the pattern and start sewing straight away. No need to trace anything out which can sometimes induce procrastination. Well it does for me. Yes you only get one size but really, isn’t that all you need?
The paper for the pattern is good quality and a good weight so you can reuse over and over again. In addition, the different pieces fold down nicely into an A4 size and the pattern comes with a handy A4 envelope for storage. (see image below). Perfect!
Clear instructions. Zero confusion. All the seams are nicely interlocked so I have ended up with quite a professional looking finish, even if I do say so myself.
Very wearable style. Comfortable but stylish with extra skirt swooshiness for good measure.
It has POCKETS!!

The only adjustment I had to make was to the length of the dress as I am below average height!. I like this pattern so much that I am already planning to make it in a shweshwe fabric and in a batik fabric. Will share when I do. Do you like this sort of style? If so I would love to hear recommendations on similar dress patterns.