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Anza Dress & Janie Dress // Pattern Review

Anza Dress & Janie Dress // Pattern Review

Hello, hello!

Yesterday I shared all about the fabrics I used to make these dresses for my daughter and I, today I want to share my thoughts on the patterns I used!

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

For my dress, I used the Anza Dress by Itch To Stitch. (Affiliate Links) I was so excited to finally use a dress/shirt pattern by this designer. I tested her Tierras Woven Joggers pattern, but hadn't had a chance yet to try a non-bottoms pattern. I am so so happy with how well this dress fits and now am super excited to sew up a slew of her other patterns.

This pattern also comes with a jumpsuit option as well as the dress.

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

Her sizing seems to be pretty much perfect for my body shape, I fell into a straight size 4. I made a quick muslin of the bodice, because I had a hunch that I might need to shorten it some. I am quite short waisted, and it turned out that my hunch was correct. I shortened the bodice by a whole inch to get the waist line to hit at my natural waist.

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women


I also wanted to explore the possibility of a sway back adjustment. I have a few elastic waist dresses and in each one, I have fabric pooling at my center back. The Southport Dress I made here, has this issue and I'm so happy to have figured out a solution before I make the next one! 

Ok, so back to the adjustment I made. It was serendipitous, because the morning that I was cutting out this dress, I happened to have the TV turned on to a DIY channel and Sewing With Nancy came on. And lo and behold, she was talking fitting adjustments! And yep. She showed how to do a sway back adjustment with a pivot and slide method. It was meant to be. I used her method to do a 1/2 inch sway back adjustment at the center back neck line and it was perfection. (You can watch the episode HERE - the swayback portion is around the 13 minute mark) 

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

You can see there is still a little bit of blousing at the center back, but I am totally okay with that because I still want to be able to move. :) If I make it in a drapier fabric, I might do another 1/4 inch adjustment or so.

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

The pattern is drafted for a height of about 5'6". I am 5'3", so I also took an inch out of the skirt length, overall, shortening the dress by 2 inches.

I also made a couple of cosmetic changes to the dress. I was going for a bit more of a chambray shirt-dress look. The most obvious change I made, was the pocket shape. I just played a little bit of pocket origami with the pattern pieces and folded until I had the shape I was after. I also used denim topstitching thread to accent the seams, and topstitched in a few extra places as well.

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women
Also, poooockettts!!

I made a separate sash to tie around my waist, rather than the included drawstring. This was super easy to achieve, I just sewed a long rectangle with 45 degree angled ends. I did use interfacing for the sash to give it more structure. I don't have any photos without, but the dress is still cute even without the sash, and I can see myself going without it on a hot day, chasing my kiddos around the park.

Anza Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

I absolutely love the design of this dress and am so super happy with how it turned out!! The sewing was not difficult, but not a super fast sew either. I found it to be very theraputic and had so much fun paying attention to the details.

Janie Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Girls

Next up is the Janie Dress by Mouse House Creations. (Affiliate Links) I knew right from the very beginning planning stages of this project, this pattern needed to be married with this fabric. And boy was I right!

Janie Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Girls

This pattern comes with many options to create a variety of different tops and dresses. From short to long sleeves, Peter Pan collar, cowl neck, circle or gathered skirt, dress or peplum top. And a GREAT size range, 6mo - 12yr. I feel like I need to make a 6mo size just for the squeal factor of the teeny tiny cuteness! No, I'm not willing to have my own 6mo old again. :)

My favorite is of course the options I made, ballet scooped back neck line, short sleeves, dress length circle skirt. It's simple, yet special, and really allows a great fabric to shine!

Janie Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Girls

The construction is really almost as simple as a basic tee shirt. But of course, there is the small detail of hemming a not-so-small circle skirt... Haha! The pattern is drafted well, and includes notches which makes it super easy to get everything matched up evenly for a beautiful result. I also added the suggested clear elastic to the waist to prevent the waistline from getting stretched out. 

Janie Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Girls

She loves her new dress! With that twirl factor though, what girl wouldn't?!

Janie Dress - Pattern Review // Sewing For Girls

Thanks so much for reading! We love our new summer dresses!

Anza Dress & Janie Dress // Pattern Review




1 comment

  1. Came upon this while searching for Anza dresses people have made. I LOVE yours! And your daughter’s circle skirt falls so perfectly. Your other posts look like great sewing inspiration, so I think I’ll follow on Bloglovin’ :)

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