I bought the Bristol Dress/Top pattern at The Sewing Workshop's booth when I attended the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup WA in 2015. The TSW ladies were wearing theirs in various knits. It's a cozy, casual and stylish dress for laying, which you have to do in Puyallup in February, and fall/winter months here in Asheville, NC. I had inspiration overload when I returned and my sights on spring when I got home with lots of snow on the ground when I left, and more when I returned. Here are photos of the 3 Bristol dresses I sewed up while it snowed last week, and I'm still playing!
This pattern, like the TSW Odette top pattern that I have sewn several of, allows one to treat your fabric like a puzzle that I enjoy. So, like the Odette top, I made several of these and will probably sew up more. It's a fun, Anthropologie like style that is very adaptable, depending on the knit you use. I used a novelty overprinted slinky for the body and sleeves of my first one. I planned to use a black ponte knit for the contrast, but decided it was too much "black", instead used the beige stretch pique, picking up the color of the floral motifs. It's the same pique I used to make this Cutting Line Designs Pure and Simple jacket. One of my friends remarked that the black floral slinky dress has a Downton Abby vibe.
The second one is in an emerald green/black ponte knit from Fabric Mart with black matte jersey contrast hem bands and cuffs. It's a showstopper! The mulberry one below is in the same puckery/lacy knit that I used for a long skirt and a Eureka top. This time I cut the yoke on the bias and stablized the yoke/body seam with the fusible knit stabilizer tape. It coordinates with those, and many other Berry and Chocolate Coordinates I've sewn.
In terms of construction, I found that a 4 thread serged seam worked best for the body, sleeve and yoke seams. I used fusible tricot knit stay tape for the yokes and other areas that needed it. You can eliminate the cuff if you want to. I cut the sleeves for the mulberry one on the interesting ruffled selvedge.
This is a great pattern to play with and use remnants that are just too good to toss! I've uploaded many more photos of these to my Bristol Dress Flickr album. I'm always up to something in the sewing chamber, but am a lazy blogger. If you want to see what I'm up to, and get some inspiration to sew your own, just check my Flickr photos.
