It’s always really fun to find new pattern companies! Well, new to me in any case… some of the ones I find are new and some are simply ones I haven’t had the luck of coming across yet. Either way, I love discovering new (dress!) patterns to make!

Recently, I stumbled upon the Veera Dress, from Tessa Roosa Patterns. I’ve had tons of fabric in my stash just waiting for the right pattern, and I thought that this one would work really well for some fabric I purchased at Sew Over It in London last year.

The Veera features elbow-length sleeves and a skirt that has slits on both sides. The silhouette is simple but very pretty and classic. I was very bad at taking process photos for this one, but I’ll talk through it anyway.

With this pattern, I also had my first experience ordering from PDF Plotting. If you’re unaware, most PDF patterns include a copy shop version so that you can have it printed out in large sheets. You can do this at a variety of different places. I would assume a place like Staples would also do it for you, but I’ve never tried. I actually enjoy taping together PDFs. I find it oddly therapeutic.

Before I started buying PDF patterns, I had no idea that the US and the UK used different standard paper sizes. With the Veera, I couldn’t locate the US paper size and I couldn’t get the right scale on the print with my printer, so I decided to send it out to get printed for me. It was along wait, but worth it! The pattern showed up ready to go in just a few days.

I got everything cut out, made the progress you see in the photo above and then promptly headed back upstate for a few days and didn’t work on the dress again until this week.

The design lines of the pattern are pretty simple and easy, and I had no problems speeding my way through it. My fabric was a little fussy to work with, but that’s no fault of the pattern.

The final product is something new for me. I don’t usually wear dresses with a neckline this high but I like it. I shorted the skirt quite a bit after I tried it on because, while I have no desire to expose myself to people when I’m out, I’m also not crazy modest when it comes to my clothes and I felt like I was super covered up.

I didn’t take a picture of it but the dress originally fell to my mid-shin.

This one’s going to be a nice transition piece for the fall. I haven’t quite decided yet if I’m doing to attempt to dress in all my good clothes when I get back to work (we don’t even have a firm answer on THAT yet) or if I’m going to be wearing easier to wash clothes, but it’s nice to have some options. And, hey, on the chance we go remote again, I can wear all my fancy dresses for the inevitable 8000 Zoom meetings!