My daughter asked me to make her a Dottie Angel dress so I decided that was my task for a Christmas present. Meanwhile I had not made a dress from a pattern in about thirty years. Simplicity pattern 1080, known as the Dottie Angel Dress, has twenty-eight steps in order to make dress A, which is the one my daughter wanted. I literally worked on about two steps at a time or the whole thing would have seemed very overwhelming. I had never worked with bias tape before but with patience it all started to make sense. My mother, who has far more sewing experience than I do, was surprised I was working with bias tape – she thought it over-complicates things. I do think it helps keep things neat and tidy once you get used to it.

My stitching is not perfect and there were a few times I took out a seam and redid it to attempt to get it in better shape. I need more practice! Anyway in the long run the dress came out lovely. Emily likes muted colors and I thought the orange sherbet colored bias tape perked up the brown floral background. The pink pockets were made from Liberty of London fabric, which has small bits of that orange sherbet color in the background. I am a complete sucker for any fabrics with brown background and florals as the print. Emily wears a lot of brown as well.

When I first came across Tif Fussel’s website  I of course wanted her dresses, which she refers to as “frocks,” as apparently many women do. Her dresses are vintage-inspired and feminine and have that soft, relaxed, country look to them. They tend to remind me of German dirndls when they are made with florals or small prints, and the strap that ties at the back accentuates the waist. As a child I wore dirndls for several years when we lived in Germany. When I used to work at April Cornell as a sales lady many women spoke about the modern workplace’s clothing being so androgynous. These women were coming in looking for floral dresses that captured a softer, feminine look. Tif has mentioned in her blog that she thinks she “was a farmer’s wife in another life.” She also refers to her style as “granny chic.” Well she has definitely done her part to make granny chic popular.

I plan on making a Dottie Angel dress or two for myself as well. Emily bought me some fabric for a Christmas present that I plan on using for one dress. She took me over to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver with my gift certificate and I picked out a soft grey print fabric with little navy and red bicycles. I might even make a couple that have solid fabric on top and a floral or patterned print on the bottom since some offices are very conservative about prints. I will wait and see where I am working to figure that out. One of the things that is so nice about making your own clothing is that you can choose the fabrics and how you want to arrange things. I also think this dress would be beautiful if upcycled from a vintage sheet set.

Emily wanted to illustrate how she winterized her dress quickly for a snowy, winter Colorado day. It was Christmas Day in Denver. With her sweater, scarf, hat and army jacket she looks cozy, comfy and pretty in her Dottie Angel dress. I like the mix of army jacket with floral. It transforms the outfit to a grunge look from the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. Emily has long been a fan of granny type boots. Plus she is a crazy for hats, which seems to run in my family. Whenever I am in Colorado I always love how once winter hits it is so common to see people wearing their hats indoors as well as outside. There is something so peaceful about being wrapped up in a hat and a warm sweater.

I hope you enjoyed this post about the Dottie Angel dress. I certainly enjoyed making it and hope to make a few more. The design is a classic and therefore is a wonderful addition to any lady’s wardrobe.

Photo by Emily Owens

All material written and photos taken by: © Marilyn Lavender, 2016.  All Rights Reserved.