Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock these past few months, you’ve probably come across tons of pictures of fashion girls lounging about at home or in a park in their “nap dresses.” The purveyors of the OG nap dress, Hill House Home, have been constantly selling out their nap dresses, and it’s easy to understand the appeal - these sweet yet comfy dresses evoke imagined simpler times when civility reigned and pandemics did not dominate the headlines:
Photo credits: Hill House Home
It is possible to sew a dress inspired by the famous Hill House ‘nap dress’ using McCall’s 8132. This pattern may initially seem like an unconventional choice as it is a historical costume pattern, but it has all of the design characteristics of a nap dress: (1) a high empire waist, (2) a low scoop or square neckline, (3) either ruffle or puff sleeves, and (4) a flowing, loose skirt.
In terms of fabric, pretty much any light- to medium-weight cotton would do, including cotton shirting fabrics. I think it would be really cute to go with a print like in the Hill House inspo dresses above, either a check fabric or a small-scale floral print to amp up the romanticism. Here are a few fabrics that I think might work:
I’m planning to take a slightly different approach with this project - instead of buying fresh fabric, I’m going to use some old button-down shirts that a colleague gave me. These shirts are perfect because they are made of lightweight cotton, and there are several of them in coordinating colors so I can mix and match them to create a (hopefully) interesting design.
UPDATE: I’ve finished the nap dress! Here’s a sneak peek. Check out all the pics of the finished dress here.
