Fashion has the power to translate our individuality into the fabric of choice, the choice of color, and our design preferences. One such stylish manifestation is the Tamarind Dress that we are celebrating today. Tailored with a bustier top and a gathered skirt, this dress harmoniously combines luxury with comfort, creating a unique statement that’s hard to ignore.
Linen is a gift of nature that has been adorning bodies for centuries, tracing back to ancient civilizations. This resilient fabric holds its shape while boasting a breezy lightness, making it ideal for a flattering silhouette that does not compromise comfort. Its breathability and durability contribute to its increasing popularity in sustainable fashion circles.
The bustier’s structure is lightly boned, providing an excellent fit while ensuring that the garment maintains its form. It has been tailored to flatter all body shapes, gently cinching the waist and accentuating the curves.
The gathered skirt adds a playful flair to this dress, perfectly contrasting the structured top. The skirt’s flowy movement makes the dress suitable for both casual and formal settings. With each step, the gathered linen radiates a charm, imbuing the wearer with an air of playful sophistication.
Purchase Materials Used Below:
- 4 yards of Mood Exclusive August Attitude Linen and Rayon Woven
- 1pc 846 Golden Rod Invisible Zipper
- 2 spools of 870 Topaz 100m Gutermann Sew All Thread
- MDF341 – The Tamarind Dress Sewing Pattern (free download below!)
Alternative Recommended Fabrics:
Sewing the top:
- With the self, Sew together L on both sides of H. Repeat with the lining.
- With the self, sew both J pieces together along the CF line. Repeat with both K pieces for lining.
- With the self, sew G to both sides of J.
- With the lining, sew F to both sides of K.
- Sew together the row with H and L to the bottom of the row with G and J of fabric and sew the same for both rows of lining.
- Gather the self bust and press down on the pleats.
- Sew four sets of B and E together then attach these onto both ends of the bustier.
- Once both the lining and self bodices are complete, sew both layers right sides together, across the top edge.
- Under stitch both layers at the top.
Adding boning to the bust bodice:
- Cut 9 strips of boning varying in size to match the seams of the bodice.
- Sew the edges of the boning onto the seams of the lining and use small scrap fabric to cover up the ends for comfort.
Sewing the skirt:
- Attach 2 pockets (I) to C and 1 side seam pocket to each D piece matching up the notches. Right sides together.
- Sew the side seam pockets together, then both D pieces onto C.
Sewing the tiers of the dress together:
- Sew 2 rows of basting stitches across the top of skirt tier 1 and gather to the width of the bust bodice.
- Sew the first tier onto the bodice, lining up the side seams.
- Gather the top edge of A onto the first tier. Line up the side seams, and sew together.
Sewing the invisible zipper:
- Follow our post on how to install a zipper to close this dress at center back.
Finishing touches:
- Fold over ½” at the bottom edge twice and sew the hem to complete this garment.
16 comments
This is gorgeous. I want to make this but it looks intimidating. I would love to see a video of this dress being made and part on how to fit the bodice. I would purchase everything to make this dress.
Hi Sandra, I completely understand that! Unfortunately, in order to keep our patterns free, we aren’t able to make sew-a-longs. But I know this is an advanced pattern, and we are here to help! If you have any specific questions don’t hesitate to ask us. 🙂
I’ve asked questions on patterns before and never got any kind of response
Hi Angela! We are so sorry that your questions weren’t answered. I can assure you, they weren’t ignored! It may seem like the Mood Sewciety Blog is managed by a large team of sewists, designers, and writers. In reality, it’s just 4 of us! We try our best to stay on top of questions for our current patterns, as we’ve all worked with them, they are fresh in our minds, the samples are still here in the studio, and we can efficiently and quickly get to the nitty gritty with your technical questions. We have over 350 sewing patterns on the blog, and we get dozens of in-depth technical questions each day. We try our best, but unfortunately many questions slip through the cracks and get buried before we can even see them. If you’re really stumped, I suggest asking the question again! Thank you for your understanding!
Love the top, but I’d probably combine it with the Aspen skirt for the bottom. Not a fan of tiered skirts lol
That would look great!
Hi, thanks for the pattern! I’m in the middle of making my mockup, and I had some suggestions for clarifying the instructions.
– it wasn’t clear to me without trial and error from the pictures how much of the self bodice piece needed to be gathered
– the instructions say to join lining pieces G and J, and self pieces F and K, but according to the pattern, K is for lining and J is for the self fabric
– I may have missed them when tracing the pattern, but a marking to show which side of J/K joins with H would be super helpful – even just a line in the directions to specify whether the sharp V should be the top neckline and the shallow V should attach to H or vice versa
I’m still working on it, so I may be back with more, I just didn’t want to forget to share 🙂 Thanks again for all the hard work you put into making and sharing these patterns!
Hi Elise! Thank you for this feedback, it’s super helpful! We will take a look at these notes and make some revisions to the instructions. The bodice of this pattern was revised more times than we can count, so I will double check those pattern piece names. 🙂
Can I add sleeves? Very cute
Hi Asta! You can definitely add sleeves. Either use our Valli Sleeve Pack and add them as I did for this Cerise Corset Redux, or if you want actual sleeves with an armscye, I recommend pattern hacking the top of our Bellium Dress.
Thank you for this pattern, Mike. It’s super cute! I want to make this but if I’d rather put a spaghetti strap to it, can I eliminate the use of boning? Strapless clothing is quite a challenge for me cause of heavy bust. Hence I want to add a strap instead.
Hi Dianne! You can definitely add straps! You may still want some boning in the bodice for structure and support, but you can try it without first! If you decide you want boning, add it before closing up the bodice & bodice lining when you attach the skirt.
This dress looks lovely! I’d love to make one for myself, but do you have recommendations for how to potentially alter it to fit a flat chest? I was planning on adding straps to it anyway to hold it up because I don’t have breasts to wear strapless dresses, but I’m worried the shaping of the bust will cause some weird gapping if I don’t alter it to be flatter. 🙂
Hi Vox, it sounds like you’ll need to reduce the degree of curve on the bust pieces, especially on K & G. I recommend sewing K & G together on scrap fabric, and holding it up to see how it fits against you. If you need to reshape it, do so now, then use those markings to cut out more pieces. Then, using scrap fabric, cut out all the pieces for the bodice so you can make a muslin. See how that fits and make any adjustments you need. Once you have it fitting well, revise all the bodice pattern pieces to reflect those adjustments. It might take a few tries, but in the end the bodice should fit you perfectly!
Wow! All of Your patterns are absolutely stunning!. I have a question- can You also try to make some historical patterns? like 1930 or 40’s ones? I would be grateful
Thank you so much! Although I absolutely love historical patterns, we don’t currently have plans to release any ’30s or ’40s designs. We do have a few that could work in a pinch though. The Poppy Dress, Calanthe Dress, and Sollya Romper have silhouettes that would work really well, and would only require a few easy adjustments.