There are times when I get the fabric first and pick a project next. There are times when I see a great project and look for a fabric for it. But sometimes I get a fabric for a specific pattern, and then see a different design and completely change my mind. That's what has happened with this dress.

We had some really hot days this summer. Eventually, I got to the point where I realized that I don't have enough dresses for really hot weather. Might sound strange considering how much time we've spent close to the equator, but that's the point - my main goal has always been to cover the shoulders. The average temperatures were allowing me to use thicker materials, so over the years, I've ended up with quite a lot of cotton poplin dresses, lined and unlined. I did sew some viscose challis dresses too, but mainly with sleeves. I absolutely love my Burda Gypsy and Burda front tie dresses. They're super comfortable and perfect for summer days, but not incredibly hot days. One of the best garments for this weather is my Butterick 5448 dress, but I desperately needed more options. I wanted something with spaghetti straps, lots of gathers and ruffles. That's not like me at all, but for a while, that's been something I really wanted to add to my wardrobe. I looked through my pattern collection and Burda gathered bardot dress 120 7/2014 seemed to be the perfect choice.

I didn't want to sew a floor-length version, so I decided to make it shorter and use all of the 3 metres of fabric that I had. Speaking of the fabric, it is viscose challis from Minerva. 

Viscose challis can be very thin, but this one is of a decent weight and of great quality. It's not see-through but still very light and drapey. I paired it with some cotton lace from a local shop that ended up being a fantastic colour match.

I originally bought this viscose challis to sew a fancy dressing gown, but a new dress was something more important at the moment.

I loved the pattern and I can highly recommend it for super quick and easy dress projects. 

I did change some things, like the length of the bottom piece and the width of some of the details (to use most of my fabric), but there were no fitting issues at all. I also skipped the elasticated waist and sewed a belt for it. 

This dress can be worn both ways - with straps when it's hot, and with the gathered top up the shoulders if it's too sunny! 

I'm very happy with this project and this red dress is definitely not my last gathered one.