What do my favourite person in the world, my favourite living author, and my favourite living artist all have in common?
They are all named Robin!
(my mum, Robin McKinley, and Robin White, respectively)
So obviously I had to make a Robin dress!
The Robin Dress is inspired by my mother’s description of her ideal dress, and features her favourite dress elements: princess seams, elegant swishy skirts, a flattering scooped neck, and awesomely large pockets.
It comes in sizes 30-56, with separate bust pieces for Small (A-B), Medium (C-D) and Large (DD-E+) cups, to make sewing and fitting as easy as possible.
To celebrate the launch, the Robin Dress pattern is 25% off for the next week. No need for a code: the discount is applied automatically at checkout.
You may be wondering about the timing. I really debated whether to launch this pattern in the middle of an epidemic.
I’ve chosen to do so for two reasons.
First, I know that many people are sewing for their mental health, and that happy news, even if it’s as tiny as a new pattern, is a morale booster.
Second, while I’m immensely privileged to continue to be employed while New Zealand is in lockdown, not all of my family and friends are in that situation. I’ve been using the income from Scroop Patterns as a safety net for them: your purchases will help support people who are without an income due to Covid-19.
(and just in case anyone is wondering, photos for this dress were taken the weekend before New Zealand announced it would be going into Level 4 lockdown. I used my long range lens, and the wonderful Danielle and I waved at each other from across the beach while maintaining a healthy 3+ meter distance. Mr D took all the photos of me in our last mini outing. No bubbles were compromised for these photos!)
I hope you like the pattern as much as my mother likes her versions of the Robin dress. And I hope you’re safe and well. Sending love ❤️
Oh, it’s so pretty! I love the sunshine yellow and brown ones, especially. So breezy and light. Of course, in Ontario, the temperature is all over the map and it’s been SNOWING for the last few days (grumble grumble) but I can see how lovely it would be in linen on the eventual humid days that will come.
Ohhh, I would LOVE one in linen! Even in the cool, lightweight wool would be lovely and you could layer it easily over long-sleeves and leggings. I’ve also seen people moving away from the kimono-look to opening dresses to wear as jackets, which is super interesting to me, and makes me think of 18th-century frock-coats.
Back to the point: These look lovely, and are just in time for all of us indoors and reengaging with old-timey pastimes like cooking, and gardening and sewing!
You could make a longer version in a nice wool worsted and wear a longsleeved turtleneck underneath. 😉
Thank you! We’re heading in to winter in NZ, and I’m planning to wear mine over long sleeved merino tops with tights. I’ll be doing a tutorial on making one without sleeves too – perfect for summer, or over-tops-pinafore style.
I love this! Thanks for doing it in so many different sizes – I appreciate the work, and it means I can buy it!
Thank you! <3 Hope you enjoy it!
What lovely lines!
I agree with Elise, this would be just the thing in linen. Definitely going on my list of patterns to call upon in due course!
Thank you! I want a linen version for myself. I love Danielle’s yellow one so much I’m tempted to get the same fabric (when the shops re-open) and be her dress twin!
Thank you! This is beautiful! I have just been wishing for a linen dress exactly like this!!!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy sewing it <3
LOVE this! This dress style is one of my favorites, with the swingy skirt, floaty sleeves and POCKETSSSS! Thanks for such a great pattern.
Thank you! And yes, pockets! All the pockets!
I get such delight when you show your patterns on women with my shape. My first thought when I saw this was, “Sigh…I miss being able to wear princess seams”…and then there was gorgeous Danielle! I’m looking forward to making several summer dresses now. Thank you for making your artistry available to everyone.
Thank you! I think Danielle does such a beautiful job of showing off my designs <3 I'm so pleased you think so too! I hope you enjoy the pattern!
I sent the link to this post to my mom and she went “Oooh, of course this is my dress, literally.” 😀
Forgot to include the other relevant part – “even my mom was making and has dresses like that.” So basically moms across the world and through time enjoy princess dresses like this. 🙂
Moms are pretty awesome! I’m good with this being a Mom dress! <3
Linen and princess seams and swishiness and patch pockets too!
The neckline looks lower in your first pink dress compared to the brown; is it from heavier fabric or was it cut differently from the brown, or am I maybe just seeing things?
Also it’s pretty great to see clothes on another not-skinny-not-plus-size woman–everything’s abundantly available in our size except models
Yes!
The neckline looks lower on the clay pink dress because it’s viscose crepe, and it grew and grew and grew as I sewed with it, despite staystitching and stabilising like mad!
I was hoping to showcase this dress on a whole range of bodies, but safety came first so we made the decision to cancel the photoshoot. 🙁
Thanks for asking this! I was wondering about the neckline too!