The Peony Dress Paper Pattern is the dress you need this year! Made in a silk or pretty viscose crepe, it’s the perfect special occasion dress, or you can dress it down for daytime. The Peony Dress also features a fantastic couture technique to add shoulder puffs to your dress.

SEWING LEVEL: Intermediate

There are a number of darts in the dress, a concealed zip fastening and optional gathered frills. This dress is designed for an intermediate dressmaker. You should have some experience of sewing garments.

RECOMMENDED FABRICS

Fabrics with a bit of drape such as viscose, crepe, silk and cotton lawn will give a floaty silhouette. You can also use a fabric with more body such as a mid to lightweight denim, cord or cotton poplin which will make it a more structured dress. For the shoulder puffs you can use the main dress fabric or if you want a more dramatic puff, use a double layer of your fabric or add a layer of interfacing into your shoulder puff. If you are using a thick fabric you may want to use a lighter weight fabric for the puffs as you may find it hard to gather.

HOW THE DRESS FITS

The waist seam will sit around 1cm above your natural waist and the skirt gently skims over your hips. The dress is not designed to be closely fitted, however there are darts on both the front and back of the bodice and on the skirt, meaning that you can easily adjust the fit of the dress to your liking. The sleeves are designed so that they start in the centre of your shoulder. This means that the shoulder puff adds height, drama and a sense of standing up tall without making your shoulders broader. It’s our new favourite couture technique! View A has a flattering frill on the sleeves that falls halfway down the forearm, and the frill of the skirt will fall just above the ankles on the lower calf. View B finishes mid-thigh with no frill. The neckline is designed to be high but not feel uncomfortable and shows just a subtle glimpse of your clavicles.

YOU WILL NEED

• Your main fabric

• Fabric for shoulder puffs (see below)

• 25cm (10”) Iron on interfacing

• 56cm (22”) Concealed zip

• Thread

• Sewing machine

• Basic sewing tools