Are you ready for fall? I made two dresses: Black kimono dress and khaki military dress.
I have very happy news to share with you. "Pattern Review" has featured me in their blog! Named clothing pattern company went and released their autumn collection: Pattern Review has posted the review about these patterns (here)
I made two different types of dress using "Beryl Bomber Dress" of them. I like the dress pattern the best but love some others too. Let's take a look.
Agate Pencil Dress: Lovely! I would like to make it with a shiny fabric, satin, velvet, etc.
Gaia Quilted Coat: I like the cocoon shaped and the big collar. If I make it, I would like to use wool plaids. But I have lots of coat patterns, mmm....
Stella Shirt Dress: The pattern has two options for a top and dress. I will buy it because don't have any raglan sleeve shirt patterns. I'm sure it's useful for making a business for casual clothing.
Move on, my pattern review. I used heavyweight poly cotton. Look, lots of snakes! I thought it was too busy to make a dress, but it turned out to be better than I had expected.
It's a very unique pattern: Ribbed collar, exposed front zipper, elastic waist band, side-front patched pockets, ¾-length sleeves, etc. I cut a size 36. I almost didn't change the design but raised the waistline by only 1 inch.
Second version. I made the dress out of a black silk kimono from a second-hand kimono store. I took the kimono apart and washed it, so that it was completely transformed. It was only 600 Japanese yen ($6). The black kimonos are often worn for wedding ceremonies by married female relatives of the bride or groom. If I bought a new one like this from a department store, it would be around 100,000 - 1,000,000 Japanese yen ($1,000-10,000).
I wanted to wear it in two ways: like a dress and light coat. I omitted to make the vent in the front skirt, so I used an open-end zipper (27 3/4 inches in the length) instead of. I think this way is easier than making a vent.
I love downloadable pdf sewing patterns, because the cost of shipping to Japan is so high. Overall, I really really love this pattern. It can be used with either lightweight or heavyweight fabric.
Thank you for reading. Have a good weekend!
Fabric: Khaki Military Dress 50" 2 1/2yd
Total Time Spent: 13 hours