Fabric Inspiration for the Dungiven Dress

The Dungiven Dress is designed for heavier, bottomweight fabrics such as denim, canvas, twill, or heavy linen between 5-10 oz. Depending on the fabric you choose, you may want to do contrast top stitching, such as golden stitching on denim to mimic a jeans look. 

Zippers

We recommend a 36” metal zipper for the Dungiven Dress with #5 teeth or smaller. A plastic one is also fine, but it can be difficult to find one that is both long enough and has small enough teeth. Not very much of the zipper tape will be visible, so it does not need to match perfectly. Just get it as close as you can or choose a nice coordinate. We also have some extra tips for inserting the zipper. 

Here are a few zippers we recommend 

• Two-Way Jacket Zipper (US)
• Two-Way Jacket Zipper (Canada)
• Two-Way Plastic Zipper (Canada)
• Two-Way Brass Zipper (US)

Fabric 

There are a lot of fabrics we love for the Dungiven Dress. And our friends at EWE Fine Fibers have put together a curated collection to help get you started.

Ashley’s dress is made in a 6.5oz denim. Meg’s red one is Big Sur Canvas. My blue dress is relaxed cotton canvas and my mint one is Ventana Twill. All of these fabrics are great choices. 

Ruby Star Society printed canvases, workwear cotton twill, corduroys, or other twills and canvasses will also work for Dungiven. You need a fabric strong enough to hold the long zipper but still comfortable for all day wear. Look for natural fibers  that combine this strength and softness. 

If you have never sewn with heavier fabric don’t be afraid. Get a fresh jeans needle and you will be good to go. Heavier fabrics can take a little adjusting but that are often easier to pin and stay put when pressed really well. Dungiven is a great dress to make if you want to try a heavier fabric like canvas or twill, but aren’t feeling quite ambitious enough for jeans yet.