January 8, 2015Jilly

Anthropologie Hack – How to sew an Anthropologie dress using sewing patterns

I love Anthropologie. I am a total sucker for their stylish content marketing, I fall hook line and sinker. Well, not exactly. I have gone to their brick and mortar stores to look at the quality of their garments and frankly, not impressed. On average an Anthropologie dress can cost from 120-348.00, basic Made In China ‘stuff’. So, what is an Anthropologie lovin’ woman to do? Hack it together herself.

In the 2014 fall/winter catalog there are many dresses I would love to have and so I shall by making them myself.

My first hack is this one. And, for some reason it is no longer on their website. It is made of rayon jersey, 3/4 sleeves, scoop neck in a soft grey with a black contrasting fabric and gathers at the waist. Full price was listed at 148.00. Fabric is listed as ‘imported’. Unless it’s from Italy or other more ‘luxurious’ places I’m thinking ‘imported’ generally means China.
Dress by Anthropologie

Here is my hack and how I put it together.

Bodice from Vogue 2011

vogue 2011 oop

This pattern is out of print but any close fitting, knit top with two-way stretch would be suitable. I took the Vogue 2011 pattern for the bodice portion and cut the fabric at the waistline marking. Be sure you know where your actual waist line is and either cut the pattern lower or higher depending on where your waist line lies. Also add in any seam allowances because you’ll be attaching the bodice to a skirt.

Skirt portion from New Look 6122
New Look 6122

Be sure to pick a bodice and skirt pieces both for knits. The pattern has the gathers at front and back. I love gathers because you can play with how much or little you want the gathers to be spaced.

My dress fabric is a slinky forest green knit from Colorado Fabrics. I actually want to make this in a jersey or sweater knit, in a marble like grey or brown but I haven’t found any that I really love. So, for now this is a very wearable muslin.

anthrohack side by side

And, there is my final result. It’s hard to see but I do need to work on the neck band.  The skirt isn’t quite as full and I forgot about adding the contrasting band, so what I did was just make a ‘belt’ out of black 2″ wide elastic and used a grommet/snap maker to make the snaps. I can wear it with or without.

Anthrohackwobelt

Oh, and check out this dress from Anthropologie, the Zelda Drop Waist. This lovely garment can be yours for 248.00. Or you can pick up the Vogue pattern 9053 and with a few added architectural details

anthro dress 248 image

make it yourself. Vogue Pattern has several dresses like these in their lineup if you’re interested.

So what do you think of my first Anthro Hack?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 comments

  1. This dress is beautiful! You hack well 🙂 lady. Can’t wait to see the next one. That style looks really good on you. I would have never thought of the leggings with the dress..I’m so out of touch with fashion these days.

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  4. Great. You nailed the look so well and you should get lots of use from this. Good thinking on the belt instead of incorporating it as a contrast piece.

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  9. Your dress looks so comfortable in that soft knit. It’s probably more versatile without the contrast waistband as you can use a variety of belts or scarves to add interest. Besides hacking Anthro, you’ve also hacked all those Lady Skater dresses that are out there.

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    • Didn’t even think of the skater dresses. Which I’ve secretly been coveting. I need you has a wardrobe consultant. I like the idea of the scarves to punch it up.

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  10. Very impressive. I love the color. What’s up with the neck band?

    I agree with you, I’ve never been impressed with the quality of Anthropology items. Not well made at all.

    Were there any construction issues combing the different pattern companies?

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    • Good question. No I didn’t have any issue with the different pattern manufacturers. It all went it smoothly. The neck band doesn’t lie flat. I tried 3 different band lengths and just couldn’t get it right.

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