PUFF & PENCIL: The Panel Dress

One of my favourite and most-worn makes of late turned out to be our Sammy Pants, shared over on Instagram earlier this year. They’ve proven to be endlessly practical, easy and comfortable – my holy trinity of what I want in a garment right now. After making them and wearing them (endlessly), I thought about the idea of pairing them under a dress. That’s a trend I lived through during the late 90’s but one I never fully embraced. Better late than never because that’s the look that inspired me to make this Puff & Pencil Panel Dress.

The silhouette is simple and classic. The ‘panel’ of the pattern names comes via the side panels which are cinched in at the waist by two ties. To make the panel aspect more obvious I decided on using the fabric’s reverse side here, which is Antonia Washed Organic Denim (also used for my Sammy Pants). We’ve also got this Elle Washed Organic Denim which is very similar and would work just as well – at 215gsm it’s a little heavier with a slightly deeper shade of blue, but still lovely and soft. In my continued love affair of D-rings, I substituted the pattern’s side ties with 25mm D rings and a long tie (also 25mm wide), adding a contrast hand stitch to hold the Ds in place.

The necklines and armholes are finished with wide facings and the instructions have you anchor these at the shoulder and side panel seams by stitching in the ditch. I found I had to add an extra few hand stitches to keep them in place and, if I had a re-do, would definitely draft an all-in-one facing for a neater internal finish. In the pattern, the keyhole opening at the back is closed with a tie. Instead of this, I used a button and thread loop.

While I did make the dress with the full intention of wearing it in spring/summer over pants, we’re now fully into autumn and it’s turned out to be a great style for layering over shirts, tees and turtlenecks.

If you’d prefer this style with a sleeve, the pattern is also available with a cute puffy one.