Tag Archive for 'Stylish Dress Book'

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STYLISH DRESS BOOK #2

Published on April 19, 2009 in reading and stitchery. 12 Comments Tags: Japanese dress book, Stylish Dress Book.

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
Now available at the workroom

STYLISH DRESS BOOK "O"

Published on March 3, 2009 in stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 12 Comments Tags: lecien, Pomadour, Stylish Dress Book, tunic.

Stylish Dress Book (available at the workroom)
Tunic ‘O’ : Lecien ‘Liberty-style floral’

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 on November 17, 2008 in stitchery and textiles. 14 Comments Tags: nani IRO, Pomadour, Soak, Stylish Dress Book.

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 on September 3, 2008 in clothing, japanese dress/craft, stitchery and textiles. 9 Comments Tags: 13 dresses, NYC, shirring, Stylish Dress Book.

Stylish Dress Book (available at the workroom)
Dress ‘N’ : 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.