Valley Skater Dress Flared Skirts Add On

Well I finally did it. I finally managed to make a dress! Not only a dress, but a pretty one to boot! Sinclair Patterns has just released the ADD-ON Flared skirts for Valley skater dress!

The Pattern

You may notice that this pattern has “Add on” included. That is because the Valley Skater Dress is already available as a FREE pattern from Sinclair patterns. The Add on pack for 6 additional skirt options is available right now for 20% off! What’s great is the add on pack doesn’t need to be combined with the Valley Skater Dress pattern. This pattern can be a stand alone skirt option as well.

One amazing thing about pattern testing is that it is getting me out of my comfort zone. I put off making a dress for so long until I saw the options this pattern came with and knew it was time.

This pattern comes with 6 different skirt options. A Full Circle, Half Circle, Handkerchief, Faux wrap, Flounce Hi/Lo and Faux Wrap with a flounce. To make the stand alone skirt the pattern comes with the band. To make the dress version, you can choose to either add extra length to the bodice of the Valley Skater Dress or incorporate the band from the skirt into the dress as well for a cute accent. Either of these options are super easy to achieve the look you want from the dress you’re making.

The option I went with for this pattern test is the high low flounce and combine it with the bodice of the Valley Skater Dress, no band. Now, if you’re like me you’re probably wondering “what the heck is a flounce?” Funny enough, I knew what it was, but just never knew the name of it! The official definition is:

Flounce: a wide ornamental strip of material gathered and sewn to a piece of fabric, typically on a skirt or dress; a frill.

Fabric

The fabric I chose for this project is a beautiful light blue Sailor Techno Crepe from Sincerely Rylee Fabrics. This fabric is 95% Polyester 5% spandex making it a very light weight stretchy knit perfect for a summer dress. The weight is a great middle of the road being not too light and not too heavy. This gives the dress a very nice drape and shape while not feeling like a workout just to wear it.

I had only purchased about a yard of this fabric as it was a new to me base which, unfortunately, meant that I did not have enough fabric for an entire dress. It took me easily an hour of playing fabric tetris to plan out how to cut the fabric to make this work. I realized I had to choose either the bodice or the flounce to be a different fabric.

Amazingly, I had two solid pink knits from a recent mystery box (also from Sincerely Rylee) and after laying them both out, one was a PERFECT match. I’m not sure what type of knit fabric it is, but it is a very lightweight knit which was perfect for the flounce.

The Process

The instructions for this pattern are very well written and include pictures of many steps in the process. I am a visual learner, so these images really help to make all the steps clear and easy to follow. There are even a few sewing tips not specific to the pattern included which I found very helpful for a few other projects!

Overall the pattern was very easy to put together. I chose to extend the bodice using a ruler with the projector file. This was easier than I expected and the seam falls perfectly above my high hips. I would say the most challenging part I had (due to my own fault) was learning how to attach the flounce. Hindsight, it was pretty simple, but being my first flounce skirt I ended up putting it on upside down… and then backwards. Good news is I did figure this out before serging so crisis averted! Now I know how to attach a flounce! I found that thinking about it in a similar fashion to how some sleeves are added to shirts to finally made the process click for me.

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Final Thoughts

I LOVE this dress. I love the fabric, I love the fit of the dress, and I just love how great it fits me.

One thing I did find while testing this pattern is that for my body shape I will need to adjust the pattern band to be much wider if I were to make just the skirt version.

Would I make this again? Absolutely. The great thing about this new add on pack is how many options there are to mix and match with the different bodice options from The Valley Skater Dress. You will definitely be getting your money’s worth out of this Add on pack as well as the free original Valley Skater Dress pattern. I will be making at least one of each option to give my wardrobe some nice variety!

Get it yourself!

Pattern: Flared Skirt Add-on’s is available for $9.99 but is on sale for $7.99 right now! You can also get the Valley Skater Dress (for the bodice) for FREE
Designer: Sinclair Patterns

Fabric: Techno Crepe from Sincerely Rylee Fabrics

Have you made the Valley Skater Dress? Let me know in the comments which style you made!

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Outtakes

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