STYLISH DRESS BOOK : "B" IN VOILE
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.
18 comments
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!
Thanks so much for posting the tip about the sleeve! I was JUST struggling with the bottom-sleeve-is-same-size-as-top-sleeve conundrum and I came here to see if you could enlighten me and you did. Thank you!!
Just stumbled onto your blog, your projects are amazing. Feel a bit bashful asking this question as I’m new to sewing, I don’t know how to upscale the patterns from the tiny picture at the back to full size. Can you please tell me how it’s done or perhaps point me in the direction of another website/book. I’m using the book I am cute dresses. With embarrassed thanks in advance, Betty sue
Hi Betty Sue – did your book come with a folded up sheet of patterns at the back. Most Japanese dress books will come with that. Once in a while there will be a book where you need to draft the pattern yourself using the measurements listed on the instruction page…
I’m so excited you replied thank you. Alas no patterns at the back just measurements and small diagram of the lay out of the pattern (the book is I am cute dresses by sato watanabe) . Im stuck on how to upscale it to real size. Any ideas, thank you for replying, your blog is so inspirational.
Bettysuesue
Hi….this was written quite a while ago, but I’m hoping to see if you or someone can help me out with this pattern and the sleeves. I stumbled upon your site tonight while searching for information about this one! I’ve never sewn from a Japanese pattern book….and thankfully for me, this one is in English….or I’d be totally lost! My question is about the cutting of the sleeves. I’m curious – do you cut it from the top of that pattern piece to the bottom? And is it 10 cm straight down? Or is it 10 cm at the bottom (and kind of angle out from the top?)? It seems like such a simple thing and silly that I would even need help with this! Thank you in advance if you can help me out – I’m so excited to find your blog!
Laura
Hi Laura, Hopefully you’ve figured out this issue by now, but just in case! You want to cut the sleeve piece from top to bottom down the centre and add the 10cm in there. Essentially you are widening the piece evenly by 10cm. Have fun!