The Simplicity 8637 sewing pattern is the perfect romantic style wrap dress to sew and wear in spring/summer! Read more for my full sewing pattern review.
Note: This was originally posted in June 2019. It has been updated with new information and photos as of July 2020.
Recently, I purchased a beautiful designer deadstock crepe from Blackbird Fabrics. I had zero plans for it when I came across it, but I thought it was pretty so I just had to have it! This isn’t something I do often. I typically create a plan for a garment then purchase the fabric accordingly. Sometimes you just can’t pass up a good find!
As I let this fabric sit pretty for a while, I thought about what I wanted to make with it. It’s light and flowy so a top, skirt, or dress seemed to be a good fit. I had an upcoming wedding to attend and realized I had nothing to wear, so I decided it would become a dress and the hunt for the perfect pattern began.
The Simplicity 8637 Wrap Dress Pattern
I head over to my local Joann Fabrics and after sifting through all the patterns, I landed on the Simplicity 8637 Wrap Dress pattern and knew it was the one!
Why I Chose the Simplicity 8637 Pattern
- I love wrap dresses.
- The romantic fashion style is one of my favorites, and I thought this dress fit the look.
- The flounce option is super cute. With my flowy crepe fabric, I thought it had the perfect drape for that design element.
My First Impressions of the Pattern
When I opened the pattern envelope and started looking at the various pattern pieces, I started to get nervous that I wouldn’t have enough fabric as the flounce pieces take up A LOT of space. I ended up having enough, but it was a nail biter. I had to cut off-grain for the flounce pieces to get them to fit. Thankfully the weave of my fabric allowed for that! So if you plan on sewing this, definitely buy an extra 1/2 yard/meter of fabric just for good measure!
In looking through the instructions, I didn’t think anything stood out to me to be extremely difficult. Most of the construction felt pretty standard to me – sewing a front/back facing, attaching a skirt to a bodice, set-in sleeves, etc. The only new thing for me was sewing the flounce to the main skirt, but even then that seemed pretty straightforward.
Sewing My Simplicity 8637 Dress
Size/View, Adjustments, and Customization
Choosing My Size/View
I chose to sew size 10 for this dress pattern. As usual with Big 4 sewing patterns, I have to rely on the finished measurements. My bust measurement is 34 in. The finished bust measurement is 35 1/2 in. I wasn’t sure how much ease I wanted in the bodice, so I gave myself about an inch as it is easier to take in that let out!
As far as my view, I went with View D with the flounce option. I almost always sew garments with some kind of sleeve as I try to make my wardrobe as year-round as possible. Since the sleeve on View D is a 3/4 sleeve, I figured it would still be good to wear in the summer months as my fabric is light and flowy.
Adjustments and Customization
I shortened the bodice by about an inch so that it would hit right at my waist. Prior to the adjustment, it was roughly lined up with my belly button.
As far as the length goes, I didn’t make any adjustments. I wanted this dress to hit mid-calf and was able to accomplish that by choosing the shortest skirt option.
I added no additional customization to the pattern.
My Sewing Process
My first impressions of the Simplicity 8637 dress pattern lined up pretty well with how my sewing experience went. It was pretty straightforward. I will admit though that I rushed through a lot of the finishing details of this dress. Sewing it until midnight the night before the wedding really put me in quite a pinch with time. I need to go back through and finish things like tack down my lining and finish the raw edges of the waist tie hole. After all that, I learned my lesson to never procrastinate again!
The only area I went a bit “off-pattern” with my sewing was the flounce. I decided to topstitch the flounce seam on my main skirt piece to keep the seam down and for aesthetics. If I make this dress again (which I probably will), I will most likely leave that part out as I did when I made my Simplicity 8606 skirt.
My Final Impression of the Simplicity 8637 Sewing Pattern
Overall, I’m super pleased with this sewing pattern and absolutely love how my dress turned out. Even though I rushed some of the finishing steps, no one will ever know and it’s still beautiful! I feel so confident in it and look forward to finding every excuse to wear it in the future. Most likely I will sew the Simplicity 8637 dress again, hopefully in a different view to add some variety to my dress collection.
I hope you found my sewing pattern review helpful, and hope to see your version too! Let me know if you’ve made it – I’d love to see how yours turned out!
To read more sewing pattern reviews, you can find them in my Sewing Pattern Review Library!
Beautiful dress! I’ve been searching for a pattern for days to make up some gorgeous silk I bought in a contemporary style. Your dress has inspired me I’m going for the pattern right now !
This dress will be gorgeous in silk!
It turned out so pretty; what a perfect use for that fabric! I bought this pattern recently to sew for a play I am working on costumes for. We would need to sew three matching dresses, and after reading about your problems with time, I started to worry a bit that I might have chosen an unrealistic task considering the timeframe we have. If you don’t mind, about how long did it take you to make the dress?
Thank you! I am a pretty slow sewer and consider this a more challenging project for my skillset at the time, so it probably took me much longer then that it would now! I can’t remember too well, but if I could put a number on it I would say the actual sewing probably took me around 10 hours.