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Parasol Dress in Ankara fabric

August 7, 2021 By Chuleenan 2 Comments

Asian woman wearing maxi dress in blue Ankara border fabric, Cris Wood Parasol Dress

I made the Cris Wood Sews Parasol Dress last month with the last of this Ankara fabric, which a friend at work generously gifted to me more than a year ago. I saw many posts of the dress tagged #criswoodsewsparasol so I decided to buy the pattern. Or maybe I should say I bought the PDF instructions because there are no pattern pieces for the Parasol Dress & Top.

In the instructions, Cris has you plug in your measurements and you calculate the dimensions of your pattern pieces based on those numbers. The dress is made up of rectangles: bodice, (optional) sleeves, skirt, pockets, and ties. The skirt panel has different lengths depending on whether you make the dress or the top.

Maxi-length Parasol Dress

I decided to make my dress maxi length so I could use the entire width of my 44″ wide Ankara fabric, which has a border of circles at the selvages. I used about 3.25 yards to make this dress.

Asian woman in maxi dress with gathered skirt in blue Ankara fabric - pattern Cris Wood Sews Parasol Dress

I first cut into this Ankara fabric to make an Elastic Tie Sweater, pattern by The Assembly Line (see photo below). Playing with pattern placement on a border print is fun (see my Anna Dress in a border print). You can see more photos of this top in this blog post.

Elastic Tie Sweater - pattern by the Assembly Line - wax print fabric

I made the sleeveless version of the Parasol Dress. If you want sleeves, they are just additional rectangles that you add to the bodice. This was easy to construct. I created pattern pieces so I could play around with pattern placement as I figured out where I wanted the border to go on the bodice and pockets.

Dress with pockets in blue Ankara fabric

I decided I wanted the border on the bodice pieces but not in the same areas. Also, I didn’t want the fabric to all be in the same direction. The wavy horizontal lines are vertical on the bodice and horizontal on the skirt. I liked the assymetry of having one border on a sleeve hem and the other around the neckline.

I carefully placed the pattern piece for the pockets so that half of the large circles would be at the top of the pocket. The Ankara fabric has a repeating circle motif between the borders. I cut the pockets so that circle motif is mirrored on each pocket, not that you can tell because the design is rather busy.

 Asian woman in maxi dress in blue Ankara fabric - Cris Wood Sews Parasol Dress

Pattern adjustments

I only made two adjustments to the pattern. I lengthened the skirt to maxi length. I’m 5′ 7″ (170 cm) so I was able to use the full width of my 44″ wide fabric. I didn’t trim the selvage so at the top where it’s gathered, I didn’t need to finish a raw edge. For the hem, I turned it under about 5/8″ twice so it would be at a length were I wouldn’t trip wearing sandals that were no more than 1.5 to 2 inches (3.8 to 5 cm) high.

For the ties at the back, I cut two extra pieces and sewed the two pieces together instead of folding them in half. I sewed down each long length and one short end with a narrow seam allowance. My finished ties are 1.5 inches wide instead of 1/2 inch wide with a knot at the end. I also top stitched my ties.

My fabric is a medium weight cotton so when I tied a bow, it stuck out stiffly. I didn’t like how that looked. The loops wouldn’t flop down so I tied a half bow, just one loop instead of two.

Gathering the skirt

There is a lot of gathering, which I had not really noticed in the versions I saw on Instagram. The skirt is so full due to the gathering and because of my fabric. Look at my profile, yikes, not a great look. I still have some leftover fabric so maybe a waist tie would help or maybe with time, and many washings, the fabric will soften.

If you choose a midweight fabric, you may want to choose a fabric with a softer hand (something that drapes) or a light-weight fabric or your skirt will be rather puffy. Or cut down on the width of your fabric so you have less to gather. The good thing about choosing a midweight fabric is that it can handle the big pockets. I can put my cell phone in a pocket and you can’t tell it’s in there. I think with a lightweight fabric, my phone would likely drag down the skirt.

This is a very comfortable casual dress, exactly what I’ve been wanting to add to my wardrobe. I just don’t have very many casual dresses so this was perfect. Thank you, Cris!

Sewing the Parasol Dress again

If I were to make the sleeveless Parasol Dress using a medium-weight fabric again, I would cut down on the width of the skirt panels and I would sew a longer side seam on the bodice. The armholes are big and I can see my bra band if I lift my arm.

Now I want to make a color-blocked Parasol Dress using a seersucker print I got at a Bay Area Sewists fabric swap, a plaid remnant, and some solid blue fabric. I’m debating how to handle the pockets. I want pockets but I’m not sure the skirt fabric will work. I’ll add the sleeve option, too. Stay tuned for another Parasol Dress!

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Filed Under: Dresses, Sewing Patterns Tagged With: Cris Wood Sews, dresses, indie pattern, sewing, sewing pattern

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Comments

  1. Meredith M says

    July 24, 2023 at 8:31 am

    Thank you for sharing your process and what you’d do differently next time–so helpful! I really love this.

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  2. Marilyn says

    August 7, 2021 at 6:02 pm

    This is great Chuleenan! I love how you offset the boarder print on the top. If I make one it will definitely have minimal gathers, and I might make very long pocket bags that attach to the “waist” seam for stability.

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Closet find! Leftover fabric from my Pilvi Coat (2 Closet find! Leftover fabric from my Pilvi Coat (2nd pic)
🤍🖤
I was digging through my messy closet this weekend and found a couple of forgotten bags in the back and found about a yard of this cotton canvas fabric plus large scraps. I got it at @stonemountainfabric several years ago and made this Pilvi Coat.

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✨
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