Stylish Dress Book (available at the workroom)
Top ‘B’ : Anna Maria Horner voile ‘Berry Colouring Garden’
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.
Thanks so much for the tip – I tried to make this awhile back and was totally puzzled as to why it just didn’t look right. I love love LOVE seeing all the Japanese clothing you make – they always look fantastic!
Woah! I’m so glad you dropped this tip. I am actually about to trace this pattern out on fabric and would have totally goofed on this point. Your blouse looks really beautiful! Something for me to aspire to.
Another thanks for the sleeve pattern tracing tip! This model is on my to-do list in a voile, too. Am printing out your blog entry & slipping it into the book, so I don’t forget.
Karyn, how much yardage did you need to make this blouse? I notice the fabric is 54″ wide instead of the 43″ called for in the pattern?
This is really lovely! I just ordered a tiny bit of this cotton voile to have a look at – your finished top is fabulous!
Aha! That’s how the sleeve is supposed to work!
As usual, Karyn, it looks fabulous. I think dress B is my favourite. I’m working on my third one!
And the sleeve tip is great, although I can admit that without the puff in the sleeve, it still looks great…
Came home with Anna Maria voile – Diamond Mine yesterday and was just about to scour the net for some ideas. My first stop was your gorgeous blog and how fortunate I am! So I have my voile, my Stylish Dress book and a Vogue pattern in my hands – now I have to make some decisions! Thanks for the great posts – as always!
This is beautiful Karyn and thanks for the tip. I didn’t know that when I made mine. One thing I thought was that it seemed a little wide, so I took mine in about an inch on the sides, and yet the top of the sleeve was a little tight in circumference. Did you find that from the few you’ve made?
This is so pretty! I’ve just made this top in a lightweight cotton, but the voile looks as if it has lovely drape.
I would love to order the books! Was wondering what sizes the patterns run? Everything is just adorable!
Dawn recently posted..Vintage Sheets on the Line