This Japanese pattern book was a lovely spontaneous present from my husband, just because he thought I would like it. He was right and I've looked and dreamed of making up the pattern since he gave it to me about 2 years ago. When I was pregnant there were a few smock top and tunic styles I thought would be good but of course I never got round to them. However a trip to Merchant and Mills in Rye on a weekend away with pals a few months ago led to me coming home with 2 metres of dark blue chambray, perfect for a version of the dress shown on the cover. I am so pleased with the finished dress, I've already worn it 3 times since I finished it last week which is a sure sign of success!
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| First wear, a trip to the local park |
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| My Dress 'D', Stylish Dress Book |
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| Sleeve close-up of my Dress 'D', Stylish Dress Book |
I love the style of this, and have seen so many great versions, particularly on Instagram (if you search for #stylishdressbook lots of versions of Dress D come up). I also admired Louise's versions and these versions - it seems to be a pattern people love to make multiple versions of! What do you think of this style? It is very loose-fitting and billowy, a style I don't usually wear, but it's so comfy and I think it looks pretty stylish too. Have you sewn with any Japanese patterns?
Pattern used: Dress D from Stylish Dress Book
Size cut: S
Fabric: Dark blue chambray at £7 a metre from Merchant & Mills, bought 2 metres. I still have enough left for some toddler clothes too, yay!
Issues/changes I'd make:
- As you can see in the image above, the instructions are pretty sparse! Now when, like me, you're used to the detailed instructions, photos & sewalongs most indie sewing pattern companies treat us too, this can be a bit intimidating at first. However I did find that the diagrams provided helped a lot and there were only a few moments of head scratching.
- Next time I would go down to an XS to make it less billowy & lower the neckline as it's already a bit higher at the neck than I'd like.
- Both my front & back facing pieces were too short. I couldn't work out why as I checked and I'd definitely traced the right size & added seam allowance. Luckily it wasn't much of a gap so unstitching the facings and using a smaller seam allowance gave me enough room.
- Add length if I make this again. There's a nice deep hem on this which I wouldn't want to sacrifice but I would like a bit extra length so I'd need to add this on.
- The pocket placement seemed a bit off to me. They seem to be placed really far to the sides and I wasn't sure about the look of this. However I've realised maybe that is the style as I've seen a few high-street tunic style dresses with side patch pockets recently.
Cost: The pattern was a present and the thread was left-over so the total was £14 for the fabric.
