The Little Shift

—By Heather

Just in time for Spring, the Little Shift Dress from Favorite Things is a sweet and simple pattern suitable for advanced beginners. This cute basic has gathered cap sleeves and pleating at the front neckline. The overall shape is made more interesting with the elastic casing which ends just a little beyond the sides with a sweet button detail.

With only a few steps, this dress sews up quickly—you can easily finish it in one (uninterrupted) afternoon, or a few hours spread out over a weekend.

A quick word about sizing; when sewing for a specific wearer, I measure and make adjustments accordingly. For this sample, I didn’t have anyone specific in mind, so I just made the 5/6 as written. My model is a thin 7-year-old so the dress fits her through the body but is short on her—more of a tunic length. I mention this so those of you sewing for your 5/6-year-olds won’t think the pattern is short. It is a true dress length.

Happy sewing!