M4M Ruthie Ruched Top, Dress, & Midi | Sewing Pattern Review

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When it comes to summer dresses, I can’t help myself. Here is the latest pattern from Made for Mermaids – the M4M Ruthie Ruched Top, Dress, and Midi.

It’s true. When it comes to pretty, summer dresses, I just want their hall. Case in point – the latest sewing pattern from Made for Mermaids, the M4M Ruthie Ruched top, dress, and midi.

When it comes to dresses, I must admit that Made for Mermaids is my go-to sewing pattern source. They are beautifully designed, relatively easy to sew, and always come with many options making them very versatile.

The M4M Ruthie Top, Dress, and Midi Sewing Pattern

The M4M Ruthie features a lovely, sleeveless bodice detail of ruching. There is also an option for a large or small keyhole. I love little details like this as it really elevates the design of the garment.

This bodice can be used either for a top or a dress. The bodice is fully lined.

The dress has two main options – half circle or full circle. The skirt has a curved hem to go with the bodice. There is even an option for pockets!

You could literally sew this pattern several times and it could be slightly different each time. Once this design was open for testing, I jumped at the change.

Fabric Suggestions for the M4M Ruthie

The M4M Ruthie is drafted for knit fabrics with 4-way stretch and drape. The drape is especially important for the dress version as you want it to hang nicely and flow nicely in the skirt.

Now I know I often warn you about rayon spandex. It doesn’t have the best recovery and so the fabric has a tendency to grow and stretch out. However, I had some beautiful, ruby red rayon spandex in my stash that I knew would be perfect for this dress. I had hoped that the fact that the bodice and skirt are separate would help. It’s when you have one long length of fabric that you may run into trouble. Also, I chose to do the shorter skirt so that it would be less heavy and so hopefully would not weigh the dress down.

M4M Ruthie Sewing Pattern Review

As always, Made for Mermaids delivers relatively easy patterns with easy-to-follow instructions.

The M4M Ruthie was a relatively quick and easy sew. I did use 3 different machines to construct my garment. I used a serger for the main construction, my sewing machine to topstitch the channel for the tie, and the cover stitch machine to hem.

As the bodice is fully lined, you will need to know how the burrito roll method for constructing the top. It’s not a hard method to do and it creates a very nicely lined top. The great part about the burrito roll is that you don’t need to finish the armhole.

The rest of the construction is relatively easy and a confident beginner could definitely make this dress.

Since I was somewhat concerned about the fact that I was using rayon spandex, I chose the skirt option that required the least amount of fabric in order to make it as light as possible. This was the half-circle, above the knee length.

I really love how this dress turned out. I know I say that about so many things. The ruching I find to be very feminine and flattering. It’s my favourite part of the dress.

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