Layer up with Mattie & Ivy
Hello fellow sewists! My name is Victoria Strong, and this is my first time doing a showcase for Simple Life Patterns. I have been sewing for over fifteen years, but made my first garment only eight years ago. I had my youngest daughter three years ago and have been sewing girls dresses, accessories, and the occasional legging ever since. Simple Life Pattern Company has been a perfect baseline for all of my creations, and I’m so excited to be a part of their team. My husband is in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and together we’ve lived in 5 towns in 4 provinces in Canada. Up here in the great white North, temperatures are already starting to get cooler, and it’s time to start thinking about all things comfy and warm.
If you’re like me, you are probably dreading putting away all of those beautiful Simple Life summer dresses, and pulling out the pull-overs. But I’m here to remind you that you can layer your Simple Life Patterns to make a perfect fall ensemble. Today I’m going to show you how you can add a layer to the light and flowy angel sleeve Ivy to make it suitable for cooler temperatures using the Mattie suspender skirt! This combination has a wonderfully vintage back-to-school vibe, with the skirt of the dress tucked in at the waist. For the Ivy, I used a thinner cotton and a medium weight cotton to allow for a more comfortable waist when tucked, but you could use any weight. For the Mattie, I used a heavier linen fabric for body and warmth.
Though Ivy makes an absolutely perfect summer boho-style dress, when you layer it with a skirt like Mattie, it changes the look entirely. I think that’s my favourite thing about the Simple Life Patterns. They can be used in so many different ways. For example, here I used a simple version of Mattie. Instead of using the scallop template, I straight hemmed the skirt for a more mature look to show you how easily customizable these patterns are. Since we are in the North, I styled it with some knee-high boots for some extra warmth. I could see this ensemble as a perfect Thanksgiving dress.
I think this has to be one of my favourite looks. The vintage floral with the vintage scalloped skirt and suspenders just screams schoolhouse to me. Styling it with knee-high socks adds to the vintage feel, and adds a little more warmth as well. Though I haven’t tried it yet, you could use the Sloane socks(link) to achieve the same look! I think I’ll be doing that next time. For the waistband on this look, I used the mid-rise instead of the high-rise.
My favourite thing about the Ivy dress is the TWIRL factor. It is every little girls dream. And even with the Mattie skirt, it twirls better than a lot of dresses I’ve seen.
So don’t go putting those dresses away yet! You just have to get a little more creative to make them perfect for cooler temps too.
