Series 10 of Task Master saw comedian Katherine Parkinson exhibiting her very cool style especially when she wore this denim dress with great sleeves and pointed 70s style collar. So, I set about looking for it, thinking I’d like to buy one. That was until I found it was by Chloe and cost around £300! Not what I would normally spend on any garment. I decided I could probably copy it to some degree if I hacked a similar pattern.
Katherine Parkinson On Task Master 
Her Chloe Dress
I found the Simplicity 8014 and thought I needed to change up the sleeves to give them that poofiness, and increase the collar angle. I didn’t attempt to make a lower front yoke as on the Chloe one and I didn’t really achieve the room in the back of the dress that the Chloe dress has. I did square off the waist to a small degree and omitted the belt.
However, I really got the grips with topstitching. I started with Gutermann topstitching thread and a topstitching needle. The results were so shabby that I cried for help on the Fold Line Facebook group. Something I hadn’t realised is that the tension needs to be a lot higher. Also, lots of people suggested the extra strong thread opposed to the topstitching thread. I had also underestimated the stitch length requirements and increased this to 4! I also discovered that I own an edge stitching foot! This was also highly recommended for a neat finish and so I gave that a go too.
I threw all these suggestions at improving my many lines of stitching. The results were amazing! In the past I have done quite a lot of what I thought was ok topstitching. I now I realise it was absolutely rubbish! Ha! With every garment I make I’m sure I learn something new, but with this I had my eyes well and truly opened to a whole new level of neat stitching!
I am particularly pleased with my pointy collar. Having a long stitch length means going over those slightly bumpy area is more manageable.
For the sleeves, I found a useful quick and clear method on YouTube by natalia dedios, she demonstrates how to add volume into different areas of a sleeve. I just added volume to the upper sleeve by slashing and opening up the pattern piece. It worked a treat and the denim holds the shape very well.
I bought the denim at the TFG Fabrics.I had a very successful online spree and got 3 high quality plain fabrics.. This denim is just the colour I wanted, and it has a bit of stretch making it really comfy to wear. At the time of writing this the stock at this shop is sadly quite depleted.
The buttonholes are also made using the strong thread and I can’t believe I had no trouble with them either! I got the buttons on eBay. They were a cinch at £1.95 for 10! I used my vario plias to apply them gently so not to bend them.
This is probably the closest I have come to getting what I want whilst not having the exact pattern, so I’m chuffed with the result. I was also reminded that working with denim is actually so easy. It’s stability makes it great for obtaining that degree of accuracy that kind of goes by the wayside with all those floaty viscose dresses!
✂️❤️✂️
Making Pretty Patterns 
One thought on “Denim Dress Hack”