Tag Archive for ‘Stylish Dress Book’ at make something

Tag Archive for 'Stylish Dress Book'

STYLISH DRESS BOOK : DRESS ‘J’

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on September 30, 2009

. 45 Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever studied a book as much as I’ve studied the Stylish Dress Book. Every week or so, I pull it off the shelf and carefully flip though it, examining the photos and the technical drawings looking for my next project. The crazy thing is that I always find something that seems ‘new’ to me.

A couple months ago, I had tucked away a couple metres of the nani IRO fuwari fuwari double gauze cotton in purple when it had arrived. The entire bolt got snapped up within 24 hours. Within a few days both Ayalah and Melinda had whipped up cute frocks from the Stylish Dress Book, but I just couldn’t decide what to make.

The incredible thing about this particular nani IRO print is that it changes as it moves across the width of the bolt. This plays out in interesting ways depending on how you choose to lay your pattern out.

With the colder weather approaching, I’m switching to making shirts and tunics that I can wear with jeans (my cold weather uniform). I decided to change Dress ‘J’, into a shirt that could also double as a cute cardigan.

One of my favourite details in sewing in using variegated thread. I get so much pleasure from seeing the thread colour change along my stitching line. Seriously, it makes me so happy. I used it to sew my buttonholes on this shirt and I just love how they turned out. Little coloured rainbow buttonholes! This particular spool is called ‘Water Lilies’ (clearly a reference to Monet) and it changes from purple to pink to blue to green.

I’m going to Houston, Texas next Friday with Jacqueline for Quilt Market! Does anyone know anything about Houston? Is there anything I should see? I’m pretty excited to go check out all the new fabrics and maybe meet some of the designers. My two missions are ‘Japanese imports’ and ‘felt’.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS ‘S’, AGAIN

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Karyn

on September 7, 2009

in stitchery, textiles and the workroom

. 18 Comments

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 6
Stylish Dress Book : Dress “S” in Zain Liberty of London Tana Lawn

If you have a sharp eye, you’ll catch that I’ve done this dress before. It’s not often that I repeat a pattern, but I have fallen in love with this style. My “Little Stars” version has become one of my easy favourites. It is perfect for dressy nights out and comfortable to wear every day.

Your sharp eye might also catch that I’ve used the Zain Liberty fabric already, for my camera strap. I thought it would be great to make a ‘black-ish’ dress to transition to fall that I could wear with tights when the weather got colder. I love how some of these Liberty of London prints seem so wild and crazy up close, but from far away read as quite sophisticated.

The dress exactly is pretty much exactly the same as the other one. I didn’t end up taking the sides in at all, so the skirt is slightly more full. I like this. I also repeated my modification of adding several lines of shirring just above the waistline. It’s like wearing an invisible belt. I feel shapely without feeling restricted.

Keep your eye out for at least one more version of this pattern, I’ve decided it will make a great top with some minor modifications.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK : DRESS “M” VARIATION

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Karyn

on August 13, 2009

in stitchery, textiles and the workroom

. 19 Comments

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 5
Stylish Dress Book : Dress “M” in Wiltshire Liberty of London Tana Lawn

We went to a wedding in Montreal a couple weekends ago. It was a lovely affair out in the country on the grounds of an old mill. It was the perfect occasion to sew up another dress using my stash of Liberty of London fabrics. I chose to use the deep plummy ‘Wiltshire” print.

I agonized quite a bit over what pattern to use. I went through my vintage sewing patterns, scoured my collection of Anthropologie catalogs and revisited my inspiration folder on my computer. In the end I decided to make a version of Dress “M ” from Stylish Dress Book. The Japanese dress books always come to the rescue in the end.

To make the pattern a bit more dressy, I made the back neckline a ‘v’ shape and made a facing for the bodice to clean finish the neckline and armholes. To create more gathering in the skirt, I added a few extra inches to the width. This was really not necessary, but just a result of me being over zealous about gathering.

Of course, I was working on the dress just a couple days before leaving for Montreal. When I did my first fitting I found that I had cut the dress too short. Oh dear. I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought about just adding more fabric to the end, but when I talked to Kristiann (teacher of our Knock it off, Underwear and Pattern Drafting classes) about it, she had the perfect suggestion. Kris’ idea was to randomly create miniature pleats along the bottom to create a slight bubble. To add some length to the hem, Kris recommended sewing a folded piece of fabric to the bottom edge and then ironing it down so that the final hem was self-finished. I really love this idea and to create a very slight contrast I used the ‘wrong’ side of the Liberty fabric for the hem trim. The printing on these Liberty of London Tana Lawns is so well done, on many of them it’s hard to figure out which is the ‘wrong’ side of the fabric.

My finishing touch was a sash, that I wore tied in the front.

After a bit of nail biting and obsessing, it really turned out just right. The perfect ’summer chic’ dress for a wedding in the country.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS “S”

Published

Karyn

on July 20, 2009

in stitchery and textiles

. 29 Comments

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 4
Stylish Dress Book 2 : Dress “S” in ‘My Little Star’ Tana Lawn Cotton

After warming up with a few smaller projects, I finally bit the bullet and REALLY cut into some Liberty of London fabric to make a piece of clothing.

When I chose the ‘My Little Star’ print, I thought it was really bold and a bit crazy. In reality, it’s a totally soft and muted yet still slightly rock and roll.

I had picked out Dress “S” when I first got Stylish Dress Book 2. The square gathered neckline and wide gathered sleeves had me at first glance. The pattern calls for a contrasting fabric in jersey for the sleeves and another fabric for the neckline. I decided the star print would shine better on its own.

The dress came together pretty quickly once I got going. When it was done, it was a bit too loose for my liking. One of the characteristics of these smock dresses is that they are rather loose fitting. On one hand this usually means the patterns are more forgiving with fit and very comfortable to wear. On the other hand, sometimes they are too unshapely. I thought perhaps just taking in the side seams a bit might make the fit more flattering. It wasn’t enough.

This is where magical shirring comes to the rescue once again. I can not sing the praises of shirring enough. It is such a simple technique that gives maximum result every time. I had not yet tried shirring around a waistline, but had seen it many times.

I decided to space my shirring lines a 1/2″ apart and wound up doing four lines of shirring. It turned out perfectly. The shirring around the waist seems to echo the wide gathered elastic sleeves and neckline. It has totally transformed the dress and I think for me, it is much improved.

I can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying working with the Liberty prints. They are lovely to handle and sew with. Plus, wearing them is dreamy! The tana lawn cotton has a super high thread count that makes the fabric very durable, smooth and almost silky. I’ve also never seen such amazing detailed printing on fabric.

We’re going to a wedding in a couple weeks, so I’m trying to design a dress using this print. I’ve already been warned that I’m not to be trying to sew up the dress as we’re driving to the wedding, so I need to get cracking. At least we all know that I’ve got several dresses in my closet to fall back on if I can’t get it together in time.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS “V”

Published

Karyn

on July 7, 2009

in colour, stitchery and textiles

. 34 Comments

Here it is, my indigo-dyed, shibori dress. I’m so in love with it.

When choosing the pattern for this project, I wanted to choose a fairly simple dress that had sleeves to show off the shibori pattern. Rather than try to cover the entire dress with the pattern, I focused on having it clustered around the bottom of all the pieces. To get the specific placement, I cut out all my pattern pieces out of white muslin, serged all the edges and did the shibori right on each dress piece.

The pattern is dress “V” from Stylish Dress Book 2. This is actually the first dress I’ve made from this book. I’m just finishing off a second one this week. Melinda made this particular dress a few months ago, so I already knew how cute it was. Choosing the contrasting fabric to go with it was difficult. I’m pretty sure I pulled every navy bolt of fabric off the shelf before finally settling on this floral print from Windham. I also made fabric covered buttons using this fabric for the placket. Having matching buttons always makes a project feel polished.

This dress was simple to make. It has lots of pretty gathering on the neckline and sleeves. I did mess up one part though. I failed to add seam allowance to the placket down the centre, so I had an extra big hole down the centre of the dress. To fix it, I just created a little centre pleat below the placket which brought together the edges of the placket hole. Mistakes often lead to creative solutions, so I always try to avoid getting too upset when I realize that I’ve done something ‘wrong’.

This is my favourite dress so far. I’m really, really proud of it. I definitely want to keep experimenting with natural dyeing fabrics to make more clothing. The soft, uneven texture looks so beautiful. I even have the beginnings of an idea to do a quilt with only natural dyed fabrics.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Published

Karyn

on July 1, 2009

in etsy and local

. 3 Comments

It’s the last day of my four day staycation. I’ve been busy whipping up some new dresses (Stylish Dress Book 2), finishing off some old projects (roman shade for the kitchen, watching girlie movies (What Happens in Vegas) and eating lots of candy (wine gums).

Back when Etsy came to Toronto, they asked if I would be interested in doing a Canada Day feature for them. I was totally honoured and overwhelmed. I didn’t realize just how hard it would be to narrow down my favourites to just twelve! It really made me realize how much incredible talent there is here in Canada. Seriously, you guys blow my mind almost every day.

You can see my little feature on Etsy here.

Happy Canada Day, everybody. I hope you had a lovely holiday.

Tomorrow, I’m officially back to work – which luckily happens to be one of the best jobs in the world.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK #2

Published

Karyn

on April 19, 2009

in reading and stitchery

. 11 Comments

Today is Trunk Show day!

I kept telling myself that I would ‘wait’ before ordering the second Stylish Dress Book, but then it just seemed silly to keep waiting and deny myself valuable time to ogle the pages of yet another Japanese dress book. Even if I haven’t had time to make anything out of it yet, I have enjoyed some good old fashioned day dreaming about which ones I will be making in the very near future.

Right now, ‘S’, is the front runner.

Stylish Dress Book #2
ISBN 978-4-579-11226-5
Bought from Pomadour24’s Craft Cafe on etsy

STYLISH DRESS BOOK “O”

Published

Karyn

on March 3, 2009

in stitchery, textiles and the workroom

. 12 Comments

I keep thinking that I should focus on projects for the home this year – quilts, curtains, pillows, roman blinds and box cushions. But then I see a lovely fabric in the shop that just calls to be made into a piece of clothing and I can’t help myself. Sewing clothing was my first love.

This black Lecien floral fabric was hard to resist. I kept eying it and worrying that it would sell out before I had decided what to do with it. It feels and looks like a Liberty of London fabric. So luxurious.

A quick flip through the Stylish Dress Book landed me on style “O”. It’s long enough that I keep considering wearing it as a dress with tights, but short enough that I will likely always wear it with jeans. The sleeves are bell shaped, but not too much. There is elastic sewn around the bodice in a casing and for some reason I really enjoyed sewing in this part. It adds some nice shape and gathering to the standard loose tunic silhouette.

Since many of these patterns from Japanese craft books are so simple, they are usually rather quick to complete. It satisfies my clothing craving quite quickly. I popped over to Pomadour’s Craft Cafe earlier and noticed that there is now a Stylish Dress Book 2! I will try to be good and not order it just yet.

I finally took a day off this weekend! The glory of two days off was so delightful, it felt like a mini vacation. I will try to do this more often.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK #B

Published

Karyn

on November 17, 2008

in stitchery and textiles

. 15 Comments

Ah, Stylish Dress book you are eternally inspiring and full of simple things to make!

I realized in a panic last weekend that the Nani IRO fabric was almost gone. It would have been very wrong for me to let it all slip away without whipping up a little something cheery to wear. I turned to the Stylish Dress book and decided on style B, a loose smock top with a nice full sleeve.

Drafting out the pattern from the book always requires a lot of care, to ensure that you trace the correct pieces, mark all the correct markings and remember to ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE! The lovely thing about these patterns is that they are simple and relatively quick to make. I drafted the pattern Sunday afternoon, cut out the paper and then cut out the fabric. On Monday, I overlocked the pieces and did all the sewing in a few hours.

The neckline is gathered and so is the sleeve. The sleeve is cut into two pieces with gathering along the upper arm and then an elasticized cuff. It’s very sweet. It’s all meant to be a showcase for this fabric, which completely sold out on Tuesday when I wore the top to work. The Nani Iro fabric is a double gauze cotton which is two layers of a looser weave cotton that are lightly stitched together. I didn’t even bother to pre-wash the fabric. This top will be hand washed in Soak for the rest of it’s life. (Scent for Celebration is my favourite)

For those looking to get themselves a copy of the Stylish Dress Book or any other Japanese Craft book, I highly recommend Pomadour’s Craft Cafe on Etsy. Just beware that it will be hard to resist the lure of these cute craft books. Somehow I just ordered two more books for my collection. Oh! Make that three books.

13 DRESSES : DRESS 11

Published

Karyn

on September 3, 2008

in stitchery and textiles

. 10 Comments

Stylish Dress Book : Dress ‘N’
Fabric : Mauve Hyakkaryouran Chrysanthemums

Here’s Dress 11, which made it’s debut on the streets of New York City this past weekend. I love the dappled light under the Ginkgo trees in the West Village.

This is another pattern from the Stylish Dress Book. Dress ‘N’ caught my eye right away, but at the beginning of the summer it seemed too summery with all the rainy weather we were having. Field Guided made a gorgeous version of it in grey linen a little while ago that reminded me to try this pattern before the weather turned cool again.

Dress ‘N’ is very simple to make. When tracing out the pattern, I remembered to add seam allowances in all the right places. There are only five pattern pieces to this dress and no sleeves or zipper, so the dress construction is quick. The pattern suggests doing elastic along the back, but I had to follow Field Guided’s brilliant idea of doing shirring. Without the shirring the dress was quite big, so the shirring made all the difference. I tried to do bias tape along the back, but quickly realized that it was too bulky and prevented the shirring from pulling in nicely, so ended up doing a rolled hem. Shirring and rolled hems go hand in hand. I’ve found that a rolled hem is really the perfect finishing when shirring is involved.

The front ruffle is the key feature of the dress. I think anything with a ruffle is fetching. I chose this dark plummy floral fabric with gold detailing and was really pleased with final result. Sometimes a fabric you never would’ve chosen ends up stealing your heart. I love when that happens. This dress was perfect for kicking around Brooklyn, the West Village and NoLita on a sunny day.

It just might be time for me to make a couple of fall-ish dresses to finish off the 13 dress challenge.

I’ve got lots and lots to share with you from our NYC trip, but I’ll need a day or so to compile it all together. The trip was absolutely lovely in every way and I’m totally inspired with thoughts of fun things to make.