Pattern Description
This pattern features two dresses and a jacket. The dresses can be made either with or without short sleeves and the dress features an optional peter pan collar. The dress pattern has a keyhole front and a pleated skirt. It is slightly fitted and features darts in the bodice. The skirt part of the dress features pockets which is amazing!! A 22" or 55 cm invisible zipper is required for this pattern. The jacket is a gathered peplum bolero style with three-quarter sleeves. I have only made the dress in this pattern and are yet to try making the jacket.
Sizing
The sizing of the pattern is 6 to 24 and I made the size 10 pattern. I find the size 10 is closer to a size 8 for me and is quite small around the waist.
Instructions
The steps are quite easy to follow to make the dress and the pattern would be suitable for a beginner to intermediate sewer. The first time I made the dress, I got a bit stuck with the neck facing part with the elastic loop and button. I ended up just skipping this step for reasons I will explain next.
Alterations
The first time I made this dress I followed the instructions nearly 100% and the only change I made was not having the elastic loop and the button where the keyhole neck is. At first I couldn't work out how to do it and whilst researching what others had said on the internet, I found most people just skipped this step and did not add the button in. Many had said they felt the button part made the dress to tight and cut into the neck which I totally understood. If I had done it on my first dress, it would've done that to me. So I only did the keyhole neck part in my first dress and no Peter Pan collar.
The second time I made this dress with a wool fabric, I shortened the dress length as I'm not a fan of long skirts/dresses and removed the keyhole neck part. I also dropped the neck line as I found it was too high for my body shape and this worked out perfectly. I drafted more fabric onto the pattern area around the armholes. This time I used the peter pan collar in the same fabric as the rest of the dress. I absolutely love peter pan collars! I was really happy with how this dress turned out and it was the perfect look for the countryside ceremony I was attending.
I made this pattern a third time (yes it's one of my favourites) and this time I just used a simple cotton fabric featuring some cute pugs. I made the same design as the second dress but shortened the dress length as I wanted it to be a short style dress. I just prefer short skirts so everything ends up getting the length chopped off eventually. For the peter pan collar, I used a contrasting fabric which looked really nice on the final product.
Fabric Used
The first dress was cotton fabric with a hibiscus pattern (from Spotlight), the second was a checker print wool fabric that was vintage and the third was cotton fabric with a pug pattern (from Lincraft) and brown poplin for the collar.
Likes & Dislikes
I adore this pattern! I've made the dress three times already! The peter pan collar and pockets are my favourites. It's so rare to find formal style dresses with pockets nowadays. I'd say the things I dislike about this pattern are the keyhole neck and the strange button loop. The original neck line on the pattern is just too high and makes it awkward to breath whilst wearing the dress. These can be easily altered though and the keyhole look just doesn't suit me. I also hated putting in the invisible zipper but that's more because I just hate those types of zippers and find them difficult to install.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this pattern if you are looking for a gorgeous dress design that can be made from a variety of fabrics and prints. Plus it has pockets!!! It's the perfect pattern for spring or summer weather. If you make the dress from woollen fabric, it can be quite warm in cooler months. The dress looks pretty much like the picture on the pattern. I've yet to try making the jacket and haven't seen many photos of it on the internet. Maybe I'll try it out this year, I'm just wary about the three-quarter sleeves as I cannot stand three-quarter sleeves!
Awww, that dress is adorable!
ReplyDeleteI'd definitely be interested in seeing more of these posts, and seeing more of the stuff you've made :) especially if they're all as cute at that pug dress. You mentioned in another post that you've made a lolita dress before- any chance we'll get to see it?
Sewing is something that I think would be really cool to do, but it's probably for the best that I don't even try, haha. I'm too uncoordinated and too skilled at injuring myself. That's also why my cooking skills are...limited.
Thank you for liking my sewing post :) I should post a picture of my lolita style dress I made, but it's packed away at the present moment so maybe in the future.
DeleteSewing is great and super easy to learn once you get the hang of it. I've been doing it for a long time, but I still feel I have a lot to learn. I generally like making the same stuff over and over again, so this year I' trying to experiment using patterns outside my usual ones.
I look forward to hopefully seeing it in the future :) and anything else that you post in the meantime!
DeleteI'm sure that it's not really that difficult, the struggle is more not maiming myself in the process...that might sound like an exaggeration, but it's really not X_X you could put me in a padded room and I'd probably still find a way to injure myself.
It is pretty funny that I'm too afraid of injuring myself to cook or sew, even though those are very useful skills, and yet I ride horses for fun. The mind works in mysterious ways lol
I'll probably be posting some gaming and music related posts for the next few posts, so hopefully some sewing posts will come in the future!
DeleteHaha yes I can understand the maiming part. I do happen to hurt myself occasionally with pins/needles but never ever anything serious.
Omg riding horses is an amazing talent! That's something I've never been able to do. I always get so scared of doing it :(
Just wanted to put in my two cents: horse riding is fun and therapeutic! Yes, they may seem huge and intimidating but they are gentle creatures if you take time to pet and bond with them. They have their own personalities too, I rode a horse once that got angry at other riders if they tried to pass her (ears would go flat back). But she never got mad at me. At my riding camps, I never heard of anyone getting bucked off or injured by a horse, and I think it's really rare that a horse would get spooked and bolt.
Delete@SlyBlue: it sounds like you have easy access to horses, I'm jelly!
I've only ever ridden a horse a few times in my life when I've been in the outback. I think I just get really nervous when I do it. 'm sure if I did it more often, it would've be so bad. But it's not really an activity that's popular where I live unless you live on a farm or in the country. I do enjoy seeing horses though, there's some living on some land that I drive past sometimes and one of them is always licking the fence posts haha.
DeleteI look forward to seeing those too :)
DeleteWell, I can't blame you for being scared— if anything, it's surprising that I'm not. I think it's probably because I got started really young...by the time I realized that I could fall off and get hurt, I already loved it too much to stop! Still, it's not for everyone. Though if I knew where he was these days, I'd point you in the direction of Tim, the world's slowest Thoroughbred. Most relaxing ride I've ever had lol
I've actually got some old pictures from some of my riding lessons. Maybe I'll post some of them on my blog sometime (with the faces blurred out).
Also, yeah, there are quite a few places around here for riding, though I seem to keep moving farther away from them :/ I actually got started at a therapeutic riding center! Lovely place.
DeleteAnd I've met some horses with some very colorful personalities, yeah! I used to know one who loved having his teeth pet. I also knew one who was such a giant baby that he'd curl up in your lap if you let him. I wouldn't recommend that, though, horses are very heavy lol
Looks like you and I have quite a bit in common, Iriye!
@Marzipanini: Oh, so you have ridden horses before. Sorry if I came off as pretentious, I thought you hadn't! But yeah, I can understand why some people would be uncomfortable with it. You mention the outback a lot, so do often spend time out there?
Delete@SlyBlue: Yes indeedy we do have a lot in common, including a preference for a black wardrobe. Are you one of my long-lost sisters or something? :P
"One of"? How many long-lost sisters do you have, exactly?
DeleteAlso, I love that I managed to derail this comment thread into a discussion about horses lol
A few IRL, haha! You ever have those moments where you make a new friend and they go "I like this" and from there it's just "OMG me too! Do you also do this?" ...Yeah.
DeleteI'm more worried about Marzipanini throwing us both out for hijacking her posts and spamming comments!
Yeah, I know what you mean. Hell, even after knowing each other for, what? Twelve years or so? My best friend and I still have those "Wow, are you sure we're not secretly the same person?" moments. You'd think it wouldn't be surprising anymore at this point.
DeleteAhaha, maybe we should stop, then.
Sorry for the late reply guys, experiencing a heatwave at the moment and it's too hot to do anything. Don't worry, I won't kick you guys out or anything haha.
DeleteDon't worry Iriye, it didn't come off as pretentious at all :) Yes I've ridden horses before but only a few times when I was younger. I live in a capital city and there's not many places to ride horses unless you do it as a hobby. I've only ridden ones when I've visited friends in the outback. Yes, I do travel to the outback a fair bit and it's always nice to get away from the city.
Ugh, I can sympathize. It's nice and cold here right now, but I really don't deal well with the heat, so summer is always just the worst. Especially because the house I live in can't have air conditioning because of the way the windows are built. It's probably a lot hotter in general where you live, though, so I probably shouldn't complain haha
DeleteBlarrrrrgh 40+ degree weather would kill me! I have no idea how you survive, lol. We've never reached 40 degrees here, only the very low 30s and that's only if it's a particularly hot summer day. Luckily my house has air conditioning so I just avoid going outside. It doesn't help that I develop heat rash very easily. Summer in general is just misery for me, that's why fall and winter are my favourite seasons.
DeleteThis winter we actually reached -40 with wind chill, which was a first. It's never been this cold before.
I can't stand freezing cold weather so I'm fine with it being hot. Sometimes it gets up to 45 here which feels awful, but I've been in 50 degree heat and that wasn't fun. The hot weather isn't too much of a problem but it causes a big risk for bush fires and power blackouts. You just get used to it and it's just how Australian summers are.
DeleteUgh -40 sounds dreadful. I've been in -10 Celsius once on a school camp and that was horrible. It can get pretty cold where I live but never snows. Just freezing cold.
I think it's really cool that you can sew! I wouldn't know what to do with a needle and a thread, much less a sewing machine. It must be great making your own clothes and using whatever colours/patterns you want.
ReplyDeleteI second SlyBlue's request for the lolita dress! ;)
Sewing is a extremely useful skill to learn plus you can make lots of cool clothes! I'd love to try making outfits from Style Boutique one day as there are a few I'd love to have in real life. I find it difficult to find clothes in my size as I'm quite petite so sewing definitely makes it easier to make ones that fit.
DeleteMight post my Lolita dress one day int eh future, it's just packed away at the moment. I am planning to make a new one this year so I will be doing posts about that.
My only experience with sewing was once upon a time in home economics during my junior high years. I think I made some simple things like pillows and two stuffed dice. One of my friends made a teddy bear, I totally should have tried that instead of the dice. I do agree sewing is useful, at least the bare minimum like shortening pants legs/sleeves (I'm also on the small side so some clothes I buy have sleeves or legs that are too long) and mending rips.
DeleteI did see the new lolita dress patterns you posted about previously, my first thought was Marble Lily, haha. I definitely look forward to seeing you make them. If it's not too much of a hassle, some WIP photos would be cool so we could see it all come together at the end.
Oh yeah, home ec! We did do some sewing in sixth grade. That class was painful in a different way than the others...I think the only thing I accomplished was turning my hands into pin cushions lol
DeleteYeah, I'm super short and my pants are always way too long. Shirts too, but I like those oversized.
That's a good idea! Seeing the process would be very cool :)
We don't really have home ec. as a class in Australia (well the state I'm from doesn't have it from what I know of), most schools do Food Technology which is basically cooking. You can pick to make clothes if you pick an art elective in year 11 or 12. But it wasn't available at the school I went to and wasn't very common back then. However I did Materials Technology which is like woodwork.
DeleteI wish I could make amazing dresses like the ones from Marble Lily. Some of the designs are amazing and I always end up wearing the galaxy print one that is a short dress one in the game. That's what my character is wearing right now!
Hi Marzipanini it's style boutique ID 0003531208 here that pug dress is adorable I can't sew clothes from scratch but can do alterations and repairs I get it off my Nan if any of my build a bears split or any of my siblings one's do I can sew them back up. My fingers are natural pin cushion's I can prick them on anything and it doesn't hurt. I am so short so I struggle to find clothes. That gorgeous dress looks like something out of style boutique if they do a sequel imagine if you could submit item ideas believe me Marzipanini that would win, I think April Bonbon would sell it. Thanks so much. X
ReplyDeleteThanks for liking my dress!
DeleteI doubt you'd be able to submit items as it's all done by a game developer. Would be a cool idea though. A magazine I read from Japan does a similar thing where you submit designs for outfits in Animal Crossing and they turn them into QR Codes for you.