I recently made the Linnea dress by Lizzie Design Studios. This is a pattern I've been eyeing for a while. I actually applied to be a pattern tester for her, but I wasn't selected.

The Plaid Mini Dress Everyone's Making

There's a dress from Dôen that's been trending this summer. It's a mini dress with cap sleeves in a plaid fabric, and a lot of sewing patterns have come out recently with the same design. It was something I wanted to try.

I bought this plaid called Juice Box 90s Plaid from Matchy Matchy Sewing Club. It's a cotton plaid, and I thought it would be perfect for this dress to do that same plaid style. It would also be good for fall.

Linnea pattern pieces laid out on the Juice Box 90s Plaid cotton on the floor, ready to cut

Picking a View and a Size

The Linnea pattern comes with a blouse option, a mini dress option, and a long dress option. For the sleeves you can pick cap sleeves or puffed sleeves. I did the cap sleeves with the mini dress.

I was deciding between an EU 38 and an EU 40. I've used an EU 38 on previous Lizzie Design Studios patterns, but my waist was bigger than what the 38 called for. I know the dress is flowy and gives you a lot of ease. I ended up doing the EU 40, which is about a medium.

French Seams With Pockets

I've done French seams before, but this was my first time doing French seams with pockets. I really took my time on this project so I could follow the instructions and not make any errors. Her instructions were really clear. She has a video tutorial and also the PDF pattern.

As I was following the steps for the French seams and adding the pockets, I was so confused. I kept thinking, how is this going to turn out? And then it was like magic. It worked perfectly.

The plaid Linnea dress in progress at Emily's Brother sewing machine

Fixing the Sleeve Gathers

The rest of the pattern was really easy. I did make one mistake with the gathering stitches around the sleeves. When I was stitching the bias tape, I noticed the gathering had spread out a little bit, so I went back and fixed it so the gathers went across evenly.

A gathered cap sleeve piece held with sewing clips on the cutting mat

Other than that, it turned out really well and I'm really excited about it. I can't wait to wear it.

Emily smiling in her plaid Linnea mini dress in front of a hedge

What I Used

Tag @DesignsbyERB on Instagram if you sew a Linnea of your own.