Just in time before we left on holidays, I sewed the last button onto my Hinterland dress. I am so glad I did, as it turned out to be exactly what I hoped: the perfect dress for summer holidays, casually elegant, comfortable, and heat proof.

The Pattern

The Hinterland Dress by Meg of Sew Liberated is one of the most popular casual dress patterns in the sewing community right now. It is available as a PDF pattern. You do have an A0 format available when you get the pattern, so you can get it printed at a copyshop (which I did).

My version: My version is sleeveless, full-length (i.e. calf length on my short stature), and it buttons down across the entire front.

The pattern: The pattern instructions are extremely clear and well laid-out. Perfect for a beginner. The pattern itself is excellently drafted. For instance, if you want to do a sleeveless version like I did, you have a separate bodice pattern, as you need narrower armholes than for a sleeve. This is quite necessary, but also quite rarely found in sewing patterns.

Alterations

Meg recently published some hacks on her blog to make a more fitted version, with darts, a v-neck, and an elasticised back. I did not do the darts or the v-neck (I actually really love the original soft rounded neckline), but I did add an elastised back to cinch in the dress. I sewed the elastic channel higher up than in the tutorial (just above the waist seam) as my linen is quite thick, and I wanted to avoid a bulky seam. ⁣⁣

The other alteration I did was shorten the bodice to raise the waist seam to my natural waistline, as I am quite petite, and favour higher waistlines anyway. ⁣⁣The waistline was quite low on me otherwise – it just didn’t fall at the right spot.

The Fabric

I used a beautiful linen that I purchased from a recent sale at Ikatee Couture. It is heavier weight than the pattern recommends, but I adore its texture, and knew I wanted to used it for this dress. The colour is one of my absolute favourites shades.

The Buttons

I love these buttons so much. I knew from the start I wanted natural, sustainable buttons directly cut from branches, and I found exactly that on Etsy. These are cut from branches that have fallen naturally from a plum tree, which was extra perfect as it is currently plum season! I just love looking at these when I am wearing this dress – they soothe me.

Conclusion

Between the cut of the dress, the fabric’s texture and colour, and these handmade buttons carved from a plum tree branch, this is truly my dream summer holiday dress… I feel it is just so me. We packed very light for our holidays this year, so this was the only dress I packed – and I so enjoyed wearing so often.