I’ve had this fabric for a while, and always intended to make a ball skirt with it. It’s a gorgeous brocade with bees. Then when I took the fabric out and looked at it, I thought a maxi dress would be more useful. I looked through a bunch of Burdastyle issues, where there are lots of maxidress patterns. They all seem to have poufiness in the tummy area, which I find unflattering. I then went to my envelope patterns, and took a close look at Vogue 8449, a Claire Schaeffer pattern that I’ve had for a while. It is totally cool. There is only one main pattern piece and one seam, at the center back. The zipper is inserted as if it were a welt pocket. The darts kind of go all over the place, but they do the job. It was fun to make a pattern and actually read and follow the directions. Normally I think I know better methods than those recommended by the pattern, and I just do it my way.
The fabric is left over fromthese dressesfor my kids. It is a home dec silk that I bought at a mill in Sudbury, UK. I love home dec silk.
I see this dress as a layering piece. I may wear it with this lacey top, either over or under the dress. I also have a blue cashmere jacket that would look nice with it.
Back View
.
Zipper application. It is not inserted in a seam, so it is covered with a welt.
.
Closeup of the fabric
Rolling in Cloth 
11 Comments
Love your dress! And yes, that is the classic french bee that I was talking about last week. I think it will look fantabulous with the lace shirt/blouse.
🙂
Can’t wait for Friday!!!
Claire Shaeffer’s patterns are worth buying just for the instructions; too bad all the Vogue patterns can’t have such great instructions. It’s a perfect dress for you and I look forward to seeing you in it and especially how you style it.
Beautiful dress. I love the way you are thinking about styling it!
Ooh nice! I wouldn’t have thought of using home dec fabric – presumably it has a bit more body than regular fabric? Do you have to pretreat it differently?
Home dec fabrics can be a lot of fun. They are great if you are looking for a fabric with a wide pattern repeat. A lot of home dec silks are very stiff, but this one has some drape to it. To pretreat, I just machine washed it, machine dried it, took it out while still damp and ironed it dry. This is what I do with pretty much all my fabrics.
What an elegant piece! I am sure you will look amazing in it.
I thought I was familiar with all of Clare’s Vogue patterns. I had never seen this one. It is interesting that there are no side seams and the darts do all the shaping resulting ins such a sleek, feminine dress. Very pretty fabric too.
Lovely piece. It looks like it would be a great and versatile layering piece.
I agree Claudine. I have used home dec fabrics many times for garments. They are untapped beauties.
Love the dress and the bees are always regal.
Claudine, what a gorgeous dress! Francophile that I am, you can tell I love the bees. This will look fabulous on you!
So nice dress!
I love your blog and your achievements!
One Trackback
[…] Silk/cotton dress, blogged here. . Bee brocade dress blogged here; lacey cotton top, blogged here. . Cardigan jacket, unblogged; charmeuse and velvet striped skirt […]