Back when Marri was still in development, we decided to test whether you could make a Marri slip dress with no side slits. I wasn’t quite sure how this would work out, as the side slits are there to allow enough range of motion for walking. But we decided to give it a go – for science – so you can consider today’s post a revisiting of how that idea worked.
Here’s the short answer: there was regret.
The slightly longer answer is that my wonderful Sample Maker Krystal made my right hand woman/Operations Manager Anita this gorgeous Marri slip dress from a Peace silk crepe de chine. She sewed the side seams all the way down to the hem, omitting the side slits. Anita then wore this beautiful dress for the last three years. I just love how beautifully it turned out. There is something about a classic black slip dress that is such a wonderful wardrobe staple.
So after a solid three years of wearing a Marri midi slip dress with no side slits, Anita has reported back and we have confirmed that you do need at least one slit in order to comfortably walk in your slip dress. Otherwise you do end up having to take little baby steps when you walk or hiking up your skirt.
So here are my suggestions, if you would like to sew a midi length Marri slip dress with no slits – you absolutely can do that, you just need to do it knowing that you’ll need to adjust your stride length to match the hem width.
Alternatively i think an even better solution is to omit one slit, and leave one to be sewn as per the instructions. This reduces the amount of exposed leg if that’s what you’re hoping to acheive, but also leaves you with the necessary walking ease in your skirt. You could even lower the slit to closer to the knee, but just make sure it is still above the knee by a few inches to make walking easier.
See we really put our bodies on the line to test our patterns hehe. Thanks to Anita for making the sacrifice so we can all walk easily ;)
