Sweet Georgia! A By Hand London Dress

Jingoist I am not; I just spent Independence Day weekend sewing a dress by a British pattern company. At least it’s red, white, and blue?

Oh wait. But I love you, By Hand London, and I think we’re pretty cool with England these days.

When I originally mocked up my summer capsule wardrobe, I planned to make this Georgia dress from black and white gingham. But it was hardto track down gingham fabric sturdy and stretchy enough for Georgia, so I went went with a Italian cotton I found at Britex instead (more sublime floral from Britex? Color me shocked).

This was my first go at a By Hand London pattern and I am in loooove. Although I was bummed to hear that they’re no longer selling print patterns, I'll be trying out another one of their PDFs soon (or snatching up some of that remaining paper). The directions were clear, the fit perfect (no alterations needed), and the final product one of the loveliest things I’ve sewn to date.

I have a habit of not actually wearing the things I sew for fear that they look "homemade" or that I might find myself stapling together a busted seam, but I'm happy to say I wore this out to brunch on Sunday without comment or incident. No one asked me condescendingly if I "made that." No one questioned that it was a legitimate piece of clothing - something one might even buy in a store!

It may be U.K.-inspired, but this here dress was proudly made in the USA.