Have you heard of “coastal grandmother” style? Think of relaxing with a book or a cocktail on a chaise, crisp linen clothing, and overall beachy, cozy vibes. I typically shun trends and just make whatever I want to wear, but this trend hit me solidly in my sweet spot. Comfy clothes? Yes. Crisp linen? Yes! Cozy vibes? YES! One of my favorite and most-worn of my me mades is my hacked Ilford Jacket Dress by Friday Pattern Company. I wear this dress at least once a month, which is a lot considering how many clothes I have. This time, I wanted to choose different pockets and long sleeves for my latest Ilford Dress. Minerva sent me this gorgeous linen and after a long Saturday of sewing, I now have a quintessential coastal grandmother linen dress worthy of sunset cocktails on the beach. I think that’s pretty good for someone who’s never given birth and who lives four hours from the nearest coast.
The fabric I used, Minerva Core Range Yard Dyed Linen Cotton, is in the color soft green, but I think it looks more like a heathered baby blue with a kiss of sage. It’s a lovely color – it’s just not the green I was expecting. This medium weight fabric is 55% linen and 45% cotton, so it feels great, and I believe will age really well. I’m looking forward to seeing how it will soften months from now after repeated washings. I really love the way quality linen and linen blends get cozier and more relaxed as time goes on. That balance between maintaining structural integrity and getting better with age is a fine line that linen walks perfectly. The stripe pattern on the fabric is subtle and classic. I can see this pairing well with a simple, monotone outfit or playfully mixing with other patterns.
I wrote a pretty thorough review of Ilford the last time I made this dress hack, so feel free to click here for that article. Basically, it’s a perfect pattern that everyone should have in their sewing collection. It’s an extremely versatile and endlessly hackable jacket/shirt/dress pattern and you should get it immediately if you don’t already have it. If you do have it and haven’t made an Ilford yet, take this as a sign to get started. I’m still not in love with buttonhole sewing, but until I get a new machine, I’m just sucking it up and working through it. Thankfully this time, the buttonhole sewing was fairly uneventful.
One thing that I want to remind you of is Friday Pattern Company’s YouTube channel. They have bunches of videos of pattern hacks, technique videos, and pattern sewalong videos. Even though I’ve sewn Ilford before, it really helps to have a video representation to make sure I was on the right track. It would be great if more indie brands offered video sewalongs.
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