Still not a sunny day today, but eventually I managed to take some decent pictures of my new dress. By the way, I really like this dress, the shape, the ruffled sleeves, the pockets, and the pattern of the fabric. It’s officially spring now!
The fabric is vintage Javanese cotton batik that used to belong to my mother. It has black and red pattern, which are quite unusual choice of colours for traditional Javanese batik. The quality of the cloth itself is fabulous, the weaving is so tight that I had difficulty pinning through it. The fabric has a little hole in the corner so it’s not perfect anymore and that was why my mother allowed me to cut it. When she gave it to me, my mother said that I can use it for myself, but I can not use it to make stuff for other people. Can’t agree more with her, this fabric is too gorgeous I’ll definitely keep it for myself!
Beautiful vintage fabric is always so intimidating. I’m always afraid that I would make mistake when making something out of it. But when I browsed through my new ‘Stylish Dress Book 3’, I noticed dress N and thought that it would be perfect for this pretty fabric. The shape looks pretty simple with rounded neckline, pockets, and ruffled sleeves. Well, you might have noticed that I like ruffles or gathers as I’ve used them for almost all of my dresses (or maybe all of them!).
The ruffles on the sleeves of this particular dress are attached after the dress is finished, so they’re sewn onto the dress and not on the armholes. I cut my ruffles on the edge of the fabric because I like the white strips on the selvedge. Then I handstitched them to the dress with red embroidery thread.
The dress has neckline facings sewn on the outside. In the book, it uses different fabric for the facings, but I just use the same fabric and added some red Japanese cotton binding strips to define the shape. The same binding strips are also used to finish the inside of the armholes.
The pockets are actually very interesting as they are not patch pockets, but parts of the lower front dress. The pattern of the fabric makes it hard to see the pockets, but you can see it more clearly in the technical drawing.
I use the side edge of the batik cloth for the hem, it has these interesting triangle patterns and I don’t have to finish the hem! Just like almost all projects from Stylish Dress Book, this dress has no zipper, buttons, or any other fastenings. You can put it over your head as easy as putting on a T-shirt. Love!
Pattern is Dress N from Stylish Dress Book 3.
beautiful story… thanks for sharing! you are a beautiful momma, and she’s a beautiful baby too!
What an incredible story, and such a sweet, adorable baby girl!
what an incredible story!! aren’t new babies so amazing?? i love those moments after birth, seeing all those tiny features that God made!! amazing! enjoy this time!
Hehe, I was definitely a waterbuffalo as well, thanks for sharing your sory, I love to ehear natural birthing stories!
another wonderful works from you… love it so. it makes me want to start sewing
Awesome! Love those sleeves
Jonna xx
i love this, pretty
The fabric is amazing !
OMG! So stunning!! I love this dress so much. Love the pattern, material, everything. Very beautiful!!
I just stumbled upon your blog, and this dress is so beautiful!! i love the style and the material is wonderful!! its so cute 😀 i want to make one now!!
.-= little bird in a beehive´s last blog ..more bees =-.
Its my first visit here, but I’ll be back. I love love LOVE this dress and the fabric! Its pretty and feminine without over-doing it. I can see why your mom wanted you to use this fabric for something for yourself. Beautiful work.
Lovely dress!
Hi there! I am new to your blog, but I just LOVE it! I think we must be long lost sisters separated at birth! I’m wondering if you’d give me a tad bit of advice – you’ve talked me into purchasing one of the Stylish Dress Books … would you mind sharing which book is your favorite? I’ve browsed all three and can’t make up my mind. What pressure!!!
Thanks so much!
robie
Oooohh you make cute dresses! Love them all!
I have a weakness with things that come in series, and I always try to start from the first one and move along to the next. I can’t stand having book number 2 without having number one first. That’s why I can’t help buying all three Stylish Dress Books. I’m weird T.T
But if I really have to choose, I go with Stylish Dress Book 1. With sewing skill like yours, I’m sure you won’t have any trouble altering those patterns to get anything from books number 2 and 3. The shapes are similar, only the details are different.
Hope it helps!
Hi VeryPurplePerson,
first of all I have to say I REALLY love your blog and all of your creations!
This dress looks so stylish, it’s definitely one of the most beautiful dresses based on the Stylish Dress Book’s pattern I’ve seen so far.
I was wondering: Which one of the three Stylish Dress Books is your favourite?
Thank you very much and have a nice day!
Hi Kat3rina!
I love all three of Stylish Dress Books, but if I really have to choose, I would have to pick the first one. With a little drafting, almost everything in the second and third book can be crafted from any pattern in the first book. But those three have such pretty clothes and wonderful pictures, so I couldn’t resist buying them all!
Batik is something that I can’t resist in my life, as asian, i am so proud to see Malaysia Airline cabin crew wearing the nice cut batik uniform that shown the beauty of asian. And I must say, you dress is truly something that i adore ^ ^
gorgeous, i love all of the things you make. you have a wonderful eye for style, color and what makes a woman look beautiful.
Thank you, your comment means so much to me! I love everything you make too