I knew the Brochu Walker dress was my dress the moment I saw it – even online.
I ordered the gently worn dress from The Real Real at a bargain price and have worn it repeatedly. It’s a maxi (midi on a taller person 
) that doesn’t overwhelm me, and I was inspired to recreate this silhouette.
(PS… the one on the website at the moment is above the full retail price, but l’ve seen several much lower priced Havana dresses on the website. If you visit the Brochu Walker website, you’ll notice it’s offered in 16 different colors!)
I really like all of the solid colors, but I also envisioned it in other fabrics, such as the florals seen in the dreamy Charlotte Brody dresses.
Greetings!
Simplicity 8384 was in my surviving stash of patterns and the bodice looked similar to the dress’s bodice, especially the neckline. I used this bodice in the seersucker maxi and continue to tweak it! The darts in the bodice allow for a more customized fit than the RTW.
This go around, I was all about creating a dress with lots of feminine details. I added sleeves embellished with 1 1/2 ruffles and added a ruffle around the collar band.
I bought five yards of the cotton poplin from the now out of business Fabric.com two years ago and used all of it! The lightweight fabric is perfect for gathered tiers, and if I had more I might have tried one more – I know, too much of a good thing. I like it just the way it is.
At 5’2″ it’s easy to turn a maxi into a midi! For the skirt, I followed the same path as the seersucker maxi, cutting three tiers the same width. I shortened the length of the top tier by one inch and the bottom tier by two. Three inches was all it took!
I also made a sash for the dress. I’m still experimenting with widths. The maxi sash was three inches wide and this one is two.
As much as I enjoy sewing summer dresses, I see sewing this dress for the fall and holiday season using sleeve and collar variations. Hopefully there will be more!
Enjoy your weekend!
