Stylish Dress Book
ISBN 9784579111855
I’m not sure how, but I noticed yesterday that I never did a post about the mother of all Japanese Dress Books – Stylish Dress Book. It is probably a bit redundant at this point, as most of you have the book, know each page by heart and have seen quite a few of these patterns posted here and elsewhere. Nonetheless, I feel my little dress book resource would be incomplete without this.
To date, I have made seven of the patterns in the book myself. I have helped other people make most of the others in the class I teach. Where some of the books I have contain just a couple standout patterns, this book has a great variety of styles that are very appealing. I can still pull this dog-eared book out and pore over every page with great interest.
I really like the layout of the Stylish Dress Book series. The technical drawings and instruction pages are well laid out and very clear. The pattern sheets are printed in one colour, which can be very overwhelming to look at. I have seen books that do multicolour printing for the pattern pages and it makes extracting the pattern a bit easier, especially when you’re first starting out. This is a small detail that would not deter me from buying this book, but I just mention it as a note of comparison.
Looking through the book, I see that I still have not made dress ‘S’. I need to pick a fabric and get on it. I’m deciding between this, this, this or a lovely plain indigo black cotton/inox (steel) blend. Thoughts?
I really wanted to try a project out with Anna Maria Horner’s new cotton voile. When you feel it, you can hardly believe how silky smooth it is. Voile is a very lightweight fabric that is slightly sheer and has great drape. I had never sewn with it before, so I was unsure of how tricky it would be to handle.
I chose to use a tried and loved pattern from Stylish Dress Book. Style “B”, is a favourite. I’ve seen it made up in various different fabrics and on different people and the result is always really cute.
I’d like to make a note here about drafting out this pattern, that I didn’t mention in the post about my first style “B” top in nani IRO. When tracing out the pattern pieces for the sleeve you’ll notice that the two sleeve pieces (top of the sleeve & gathered bottom of the sleeve) are printed beside each other on the pattern sheet. When you trace the bottom of the sleeve, you may notice that it is the same width as the top of the sleeve. In order to create the gathering and fullness in the bottom sleeve piece, you need to split that pattern piece down the centre and spread it apart by 10cm. This is something that you can easily miss, because the only notation for this is found on the huge pattern sheet and is well, in Japanese.
Sewing with the voile was no problem. Even making bias trim was easy to manage. For any pattern that has a ‘flowy’ style, this fabric would look amazing the way it falls and drapes. This is why it is a great fabric to use for many of the Japanese Dress Book patterns, as it can make that extra fullness of some of the styles look more elegant. For sure, the best part is how it feels. Wearing this fabric will just put you in a blissful mood.
This particular print is called, ‘Colouring Garden‘ and the colour is ‘Berry’. I really appreciate how Anna Maria Horner has taken prints from her ‘Good Folks’ collection and recoloured and reprinted them in flannel and now voile. It’s exciting to have new fabrications to choose from.
p.s. I just ordered a copy of Stylish Dress Book 3!!! from Pomadour on etsy. Thank you Marilou for the special alert!
I’ve had my eye on this dress pattern for a while. It’s my favourite from this book. I really like the yoke with the little split down the centre of it. The open sleeve is also pretty cute.
I made few alterations to this pattern. The first was to take a couple inches off the sides of the dress. I could tell from the picture that all the gathering would just create too much volume for me. The next thing I did was to add pockets into the side seams. Finally. I don’t know why I’ve been avoiding taking this extra step with my dresses, it’s so nice to have pockets! I simply took another dress I have that has pockets I love, traced the pocket piece and measured how far down they were placed. So easy. I also added a little contrasting bias strip between the yoke and the body of the dress and faced the hem of the sleeves since they are so exposed. I learned these bits of detailing when I made the Oliver & S Tea Party Dress and I’ve been wanting to use it again. The metallic floral print was also used for the pocket pieces. These extra details didn’t take that long to do and really make the dress extra sweet.
The fabric is really what this dress is all about though. It is called “Wild Horses” (of course) by Alexander Henry. It looks like it belongs on the side of an 80s airbrushed van and for some reason I love it so much. It was one of those fabrics that when I saw it, I could hardly believe how great it was and then I selfishly bought a bolt because I knew I had to make a dress from it.
I’ve been wearing it with these amazing purple tights I bought in Paris. Perhaps the whole thing is a bit much together, but it makes me pretty happy.
I’d been planning to remake Dress ‘V’, from Stylish Dress Book 2 as a shorter tunic for some time. My first version was my shibori dress, which is a very summer-inspired dress. This black and white tunic reminds me of snowy winter.
The main fabric is by Anna Griffin and shows a delicately stippled print. I love how different the print reads from close up and from far away. The contrasting black placket fabric is from the My Folklore collection, which I have used over and over and over again in my projects. The fabric covered buttons are made from the same black My Folklore fabric. I actually find it incredibly hard to pair two different printed fabrics together. I like things to be quite ‘plain’, but I have been working to challenge myself to overcome this. Doing patchwork has definitely helped me to accept (& love!) seeing two prints side by side.
p.s. I really love the sleeve on this dress – perfect length and amount of gathering around the cuff.
p.s.s. I’ve been updating My Crafty List of Things to Do, as I daydream about all the things I wish I had time to make right now!
p.s.s.s. I’ve got FOUR giveaways planned before Christmas, starting tomorrow!
I know, I JUST posted this dress pattern. I warned you that I was going to make it again. (and again) It’s a really easy top to wear, since it’s almost like a t-shirt. It’s also really easy to sew and I didn’t want to trace out a new pattern. (lazy!) Also, I find that almost all of my real t-shirts are too short and I prefer a longer tunic length. I cleared out my drawers the other day and bagged up an entire drawer’s worth of clothing, mostly t-shirts that I never wear anymore. (FYI – new class alert for the new year = t-shirts!)
I was given some lovely soft woven cottons from India. This fabric is incredible. It is so lightweight and lovely with just the slightest sheen to it. I had just enough to make a shorter tunic version of this dress. Keeping with my resolution to use more trim, I made a special trip to Mokuba to pick up the grey blue lacey trim. Hemming with trim is actually a time-saver.
With all the unfinished projects I’ve got piled up right now, it felt great to whip up this little shirt and wear it the same week. I’m going to make another, but I promise to try out a new pattern first.
nani IRO – Colourful Fabric Dress Book
ISBN 9784579111831
Naomi Ito is the designer behind the inspirational nani IRO fabrics line. Her fabric designs are like paintings that flow across the bolt, often in beautiful double gauze cotton or linen blends. This book not only showcases all her fabric from 2008 but many of her simple designs and patterns. Everything about this book is inspirational.
I’ve had this book for ages and can’t believe that I haven’t made anything from it yet. The cover image is probably the most popular pattern in the book. The dress is very simple, very Japanese and I’ve seen several lovely versions of it made. I’m officially putting it on my Crafty List of Things to Do. There are lots of different types of projects to try including mother/daughter clothing patterns (so cute!), bags, coin purses and a simple apron.
I’m hoping you will pitch in with your comments and thoughts about these books and patterns as I post them to the Japanese Dress Books section. If you own any of these books or have had luck or even difficulty with some of the projects, it would be great to hear from you!
