A review of the Fleetwood dress sewing pattern by French Navy

French Navy released the Fleetwood dress pattern in September 2020 and I loved the pattern as soon as I saw it. With its panelled bodice, front and back yoke detail and skirt ruffle, the Fleetwood dress is a really cute shirtdress with some lovely extra details.  It felt like it was my style and I knew I had to make it.

I had already made two other patterns by French Navy (the free Stellan tee pattern, a great boxy tee; and the Forsythe dress – check out my review of this pattern here) and I was keen to try another of their patterns.

The Fleetwood dress is a shirtdress with a button up bodice and comes in two variations.  View A has a two-tiered gathered skirt designed to sit just below your natural waist.  View B has a dropped waist and single tiered skirt.  I opted to make view A as I really like the ruffle detail and I prefer the waist height too.

Sizing

I decided to make a toile of the bodice of the Fleetwood dress first as the bodice is designed to be fairly fitted around the bust and shoulder area and I wanted to make sure it would fit me comfortably. 

My measurements are 32:26:36.  This put me at a size A (smallest size) for bust and a size B for waist and hip measurements.   I decided to trial a size A for the bodice, as the finished garment measurement for the size A waist is 30 ¾ inches, so I felt there should be enough room there for me.  However, I was concerned that size A might end up tight around the shoulders, so I thought a toile was in order. 

I’m really glad I did make the toile as I found I needed to make several adjustments to the bodice to give a comfortable fit.  The adjustments I made are:

1. A forward shoulder adjustment – I made a minor forward shoulder adjustment of 1cm.
2. Widening of the armholes – I found the armholes came up very tight, so I deepened the armhole opening by 1cm. It was quite easy to make this adjustment. There is one side pattern piece for the bodice (pattern piece number 6), so I just cut the armhole a little deeper in this pattern piece, by approximately 1.5cm. I then widened the top of the sleeve pattern pieces by 1.5cm either side accordingly.
3. Widening of the sleeve cuffs – The Fleetwood dress has ¾ length sleeves finished with sleeve cuffs (which include a nice sleeve vent detail).  I found that the sleeve cuffs also came up quite tight on me, which is unusual as I often find sleeves come up too big on me.   I widened the sleeve cuffs by 2cm to give a more comfortable fit.

Construction

I enjoyed the construction process for this dress and I found the pattern instructions nice and clear, as I have done with other French Navy patterns.  It was my first time sewing sleeve vents and they sewed up nicely.

The pattern instructions include illustrations of the steps in the sewing process.  This is a change from previous French Navy patterns I’ve used, which have included colour photographs.  I actually prefer the illustrations to photographs.  The drawings are really nice and clear and give the pattern instructions a more polished feel.

French Navy describes the pattern as experience level as ‘Advanced Beginner’.  I think you would need to be a very confident beginner with some experience under your belt to tackle this pattern, as there are quite a few technical details, including the button placket, sleeve cuffs and vents and bias binding finish on the neckline.  This pattern is definitely a step up in skill level from the Forsythe dress.

In terms of fabric, for view A of the Fleetwood dress French Navy recommend using a light to medium weight woven fabric with or without drape.  I chose to make my Fleetwood dress in this gorgeous Paris-themed chambray, which I had kept in my stash for so long.  I am really pleased I finally used it.  It was perfect for sewing up this shirtdress and very stable to sew with.  I added some fun pink buttons to tie in with the little heart print detail on the fabric.

If you are fairly new to sewing, I would suggest for your first try of this pattern you choose a more stable fabric, for example chambray or cotton poplin.  I would avoid fabrics with a lot of drape such as viscose twill as well as less stable fabrics like double gauze, as they would make the construction of the bodice more challenging.

The only other adjustment I made as part of the construction process was to add in-seam pockets to the pattern.  I’m glad I did as I think they will be very practical when I wear this dress out as a day dress. 

PDF printing

I bought the pdf version of the Fleetwood dress pattern and I used Fabulosew to get my pattern printed (I found their service to be excellent).

One slight issue I had with the pdf is that the copy shop file is not split into individual A0 sheets.  So when I went to upload the copy shop file onto Fabulosew’s website to pay for printing, I didn’t know how many A0 sheets I needed to pay for.  Luckily Fabulosew were able to have a look at let me know that I needed to specify two A0 sheets.

Styling

I think the Fleetwood dress will work really well through autumn, winter and spring.  It will look great paired with trainers for spring.  It would also look fantastic styled with a cardigan, black tights and black boots for winter. 

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Summary

The Fleetwood dress is a really cute shirtdress with some interesting details including a gorgeous ruffle.  I really enjoyed the construction process but would recommend a toile of the bodice to make sure you get a comfortable fit.

If you would like to hear me talk more about my Fleetwood dress, please check out my YouTube vlog.