It’s my pleasure to introduce you to our newest Liesl + Co. pattern for women, the Camp Shirt + Dress!
Here’s the back story. I have a long-time obsession with park ranger uniforms. Every time I visit a national park, I can’t help but notice how well-dressed the staff are. Their uniforms fit beautifully and yet allow them to be active, and my favorite part of the uniform are their camp shirts. Crisply pressed and perfectly turned out, not too tight and not too loose. They fit every ranger, no matter what size or shape. I think I secretly want to be a park ranger. (If you’re interested, here’s a bit of history about the park ranger uniform. Here’s more information about the women’s uniform, too.)
But really, I’ve been wanting to do a pattern inspired by park rangers for a while now. And this is it. It’s an easier version of our Classic Shirt pattern with a convertible collar instead of a collar stand and collar. That means this collar is easier to sew and, more importantly, it lies flat when it’s worn open, as it’s designed to be worn. I think of this one as more of a blouse than a shirt, if that’s a distinction that makes sense to you.
Our Camp Shirt pattern includes two views. View A is a classic blouse style that includes long sleeves with proper tower placket and cuff. On this style I added a single, centered reversed box pleat at the back yoke, which I think looks really elegant.
View B uses many of the same pattern pieces to convert the style into a cute shirt dress with cuffed short sleeves. The shaping of the dress is gentle, with enough ease to skim the body without being sloppy while also showing off a bit of your curves. I’m so pleased with how this style worked out, and I hope you’ll have fun with it!
Both views have that cute chest pocket that you can include as desired. We included two pockets on the dress view, and you could always swap them with either of the pockets from the Classic Shirt for more options, too.
As with all our patterns, the pattern pieces between the two views are interchangeable. So if you want to sew a short-sleeved blouse of course you can. Likewise, you could make a long-sleeved dress.
And, most importantly, this pattern includes cup sizes so the full bust adjustment has already been done for you.
Do you prefer to belt your dresses? You certainly can with the dress. You could also use our tutorial to make a self sash if you like.
In terms of fabric suggestions, you can use anything from drapey silky fabrics like rayon and silk to linen, lawn, voile, chambray, sateen, even quilting cotton. I used a sateen for our model’s dress, and I chose a heavier crepe-y silk for her pink blouse.
I’ll be back next week with some inspirational images and fabric selection suggestions for you as well as with a post that will show you how some of our testers sewed this style.
In the meantime, you can order the Camp Shirt + Dress pattern now in either paper or digital format. I hope you’ll have lots of fun sewing it. Tag us #campshirtdress and #lieslandco when you sew it, will you?
I love it! That’ so cute. I’m imagining the dress in a lightweight chambray…
Just the ticket, except I just need to ask why no extended sizes? It would have been perfect to just use your pattern instead of drafting my own and I love this style of shirt dress for spring/ summer. I do hope the extended sizes are being considered for later on. It would be so perfect (as even though I am working on shrinking the body, I’m not quite into the normal sizing yet).
Beautiful!
It’s great, Liesl! Another winner—I look forward to trying it. Thanks!
I love your model choice on this one!
Love this shirt!
Wanted to know – how would you determine the size to use for your patterns – do you use the high bust measurement for the pattern bust measurement or do you use your full bust measurement for the pattern the bust measurement?
Here is a blog post to help you: https://oliverands.com/community/blog/2013/11/finding-your-correct-pattern-size.html
You should use the full bust measurement to determine your size. And then to select the cup size to make, you take the difference between your upper bust measurement and your full bust measurement. Instructions are on the back of the pattern envelope.
Love it. I wish it came in a sleeveless version. I hate having a “farmer tan”. Well, because, I’m a farmer.
Very classy looking. I am looking for the sleeves. Are they regular set-in sleeves or are they like a man’s shirt sleeve where they are inserted flat and then the whole side is stitched.
Hoping you’re going to release this in the extended size range soon! I adore the look of the dress and would love to make it for our summer but 🙁 I’m just outside your size range…….
I read on another site that one of your contributors has posted 8 variations on the camp shirt dress.
Can you please direct me to that post?
You’re probably thinking of this post: https://oliverands.com/community/blog/2020/01/seven-ways-to-style-a-shirtdress.html