The Hattie & Ellis UK 18 - 28

Jill came to our Social Club event with her family last September. We instantly loved her energy, her style and her warmth. She is a keen maker and a joyful dresser, favouring easy shapes and bright, primary colours.Her mother made all her clothes until she was 13 after which she was given the tools to make her own and, in Jill’s own words: “I was away”. She has sewn on and off for her whole life. Now, in her 80’s, she is as playful as ever.We gave Jill free rein to put together outfits, pairing her own makes with samples from the shop. Below are the outfits she chose. Watch the video on Instagram here 

 

From left to right Jill is wearing a Sanda Jacket in Cumin Dry Oilskin that’s been quilted (no longer available), an Ellis dress in Calamity Blue Gingham Linen. A Miller waistcoat in 9oz Utility Navy, the Arbor Shirt in Warm White 160 Linen (no longer available), 101 Trousers in Indigo Moon and Jill’s own Pom Pom Scarf made in Indigo Moon 

  From left to right Jill is wearing the Ellis dress in Forager Stripe linen with a Sanda Jacket in corduroy,  the Rugby dress is in Sugar Cookie Linen and 101 Trousers in Forager Stripe linen with an Ellsworth shirt in a navy linen and the September coat in Navy Dry Oilskin.

It’s always wonderful to make Christmas presents for friends and family, but how nice to set aside some time to make yourself a Christmas dress!

Katie and Elwen are our pattern development and sewing duo, they made themselves 2 Ellis dresses, a Trapeze, a Florence and a shortened September!

Outfit details as follows:

Sleeveless Trapeze Dress – Espresso Velvet (FYI Elwen wears a 12)

Checked Ellis Dress – Hettie Gingham (Katie wears an 8)

Shortened September coat – Shadow Brown Velvet (Katie wears an 8)

Green Ellis Dress – Anouk Heavy Tencel Twill (Elwen wears a 12)

Stripe Florence dress – Biscotti Linen (Elwen wears a 12)

The Ellis and Hattie is the newest pattern to be extended into our UK 18 – 28 size bracket. You can view the PDF here, the paper pattern will follow early next year.

A perfect combination for any mood, if Ellis is a gentle woman then Hattie is a blithe bachelorette.

Both feature four delicate neck darts, Ellis, who gets some more feminine shaping from bust darts, is waisted, with set in sleeves and inseam side pockets. Hattie has a lined bodice, dropped waist and bold patch pockets.

Ellis and Hattie can be made in a variety of fabrics, of course linen is perfect, but you could also use denim, needlecord, lightweight wool, Tencel/linen, cotton poplin, or our hemp/cotton collection. We’ve detailed below our top 6 picks for Ellis and Hattie, winter edition!

Claire wears the Ellis dress in Garden Slate 185 linen. Claire is a UK 26. Larli wears the Hattie dress in Diesel Organic Poplin. Larli is a UK 20.

From left to right | Woolsey Cinnamon Dust, Wicker Japanese Linen/Cotton, Suzanne Tencel/Linen, Mela Olive Japanese Cotton, English Charcoal Flannel, Organic Brushed Chocolate Gingham. 

Pleating the skirt

Ellis & Hattie have a gathered skirt but there’s no reason you can’t pleat the skirt instead. You don’t need to alter the size or shape of the skirt piece. Below we’ve given two examples of how you can pleat the rectangle. Katie and Elwen’s dresses have smaller pleats whereas Michelle’s are wider. These are our examples of how to do the pleat, but you can create any types of pleats you like, there are many online pleat calculators if you google!

Katie in an old black Japanese wool/cotton (hopefully coming back this Winter!). Elwen in Grigio 160 linen and Portland on the bottom, Katie in Fudge Check linen | Michelle in 5.9oz Japanese Slub Denim. 

Hattie dress with lip

The Hattie dress normally has a dropped waist, for this version Elwen made the bodice the same length as Ellis and created a fold that goes over the skirt seam. You could do this all in the same fabric or choose two different fabrics, like she has here.

Blue version – Navy linen with Wavy Navy skirt. Grey version – Grigio 160 with a Portland skirt.

Widening the neckline

Some people find the neckline of the Hattie and Ellis too high, one option to make it lower is to cut a different size at the neckline to the rest of the pattern.