Sewing Pattern Review - The Hoodie Dress by The Assembly Line

Written by Caroline, Made by Rolene, Worn by Emma.

a white lady standing against a black container door

The Hoodie Dress is a great everyday dress - whether you're pottering around the house, for going for a walk or catching up with friends for a coffee. It has large pockets, and a snug hood. 

It can be made using mid weight woven and stretch woven fabrics such as linen, denim, cotton drill, viscose twill, cotton batiste, wool and chambray. 

There is nothing stopping you from making this in a french terry either, or lengthening or shortening it.  It will give you a different look making for a versatile pattern to add to your collection.

line drawing of the hoodie dress

Pattern  The Assembly Line - Hoodie Dress

Size - Medium

Emma's Measurements 

  • Bust: 97cm
  • Waist: 80cm
  • Hips: 108cm

FabricVillage Stretch Cotton Drill - Navy

Lightweight knit interfacing in Black 

Notions 

  • Thread
  • Elastic tape width 50 mm
  • Bias Binding Tape

 Skill Level - Beginner plus - Intermediate

Maker - Rolene

Skills Used - 

  • Topstitching 
  • Attaching elastic

Review - 

The Hoodie dress was made for a store sample, however after a bad wardrobe day for Emma, she freed it from its life in store and it now lives with her and is a perfect time to do a review on it! 

emma wearing a navy blue dress with a hood

She is delighted with the result of this dress and I’m guessing by her reaction it won’t be her last. 

There is only one change that she would make on the next make and that is to increase the length of the elastic around the hem of the dress.  The pattern was constructed as per the instructions, but for Emma as she walks it starts to ride up her calves.  Simply lengthening the elastic would eliminate the problem.  Test out the elastic around your calves and see what feels right to you, before attaching it.

a close up of the hem of the dress with elastic

The slight stretch in our Village Stretch Cotton Drill Fabric works really well with this pattern.  It gives it ease across the shoulders and the seat when you are sitting.  It also has a lovely crispness to it giving a lovely finish to the dress. 

The other lovely feature of the pattern is the topstitching which picks out the interesting seam lines and brilliant large pockets that are great for holding all sorts of necessary and unnecessary items!  We used a regular Gutermann thread, but in a lighter blue to give it a subtle contrast.

Conclusion

This is a great dress which is great for multiple seasons, slip a merino top underneath and thick leggings or tights and boots for winter, or use it as a transitional piece in spring or autumn with trainers or sandals depending on the weather!

If you need inspiration the #TALHoodiedress has some great makes.  It is definitely worth a scroll!  Or we have a Pinterest board with a couple of different ideas!

Have you made this dress?   Did you know you can leave a review on our site to help other people decide if they should make the dress or not. 

SAVE IT FOR LATER....

If you've found this blog helpful, you might like to use the image below to pin to your Pinterest account for reading later.

 

On the Hoodie Dress Pattern Page there is a tab on the left hand side titled reviews, click on the plus sign to enlarge the tab and there is a form that you can complete to submit your review or any of our patterns.