Well, this is a prime example that first impressions can be deceiving. I remember a lot of scoffing online when the pattern first came out, fellow sewists saying how ridiculous it looked. I wasn’t so sure, I thought I could see potential, but the fabric combo of the example put me right off.

I have to confess at this point that I have zero talent when it comes to combining fabrics, especially if this involves prints. I have seen some beautiful examples, created by other people, that I would be thrilled to wear, but my own efforts in that direction have never even made it to the cutting out stage. And so the Maisie was tucked away somewhere in the back of my mind, percolating with the rest of my creative maybe-one-day ideas.

That was until I had bought some Ponte and was looking for a pattern to make this into the type of cocoon dress Rundholz does so well. And as much as I love the Tessuti Eva and Iris, I wanted something new freshen up my small, carefully curated, sure-to-work TNT dress pattern collection.

So I had another look at the Maisie, ignoring the fashion drawing and zooming in on the line drawing. Forget the two colours, I thought, and certainly forget the print and plain combo, the bones are good. Really, really good. The only doubt I had was whether the bodice would be a little long on me, but I decided to cut as per pattern. Lopping a few cm off later is relatively easy, adding on much less so. Looking at the photos, shortening the bodice by 3-4cm is probably worth a try next time.

I toyed with the idea of piping the angled horizontal seams, but simple is much more my style. Topstitching is quite enough as a decorative accent.

The round neck is just right for a blue silk scarf, or one of my blue gemstone necklaces, picking up the tiny blue slubs in the dark grey Ponte.

So here it is, the Maisie in an almost plain fabric, with and without a big infinity scarf and one of my me-made necklaces.