When I saw this novelty print cotton lawn from Japan, I had to have it for the shop. It reminds me of those whimsical 1950s travel print fabrics, which I love. I couldn't wait to make something with it! With its array of vaguely European-looking architectural features, we call the fabric “Roman Holiday”. This dress was a close as I got to a holiday this year. Luckily, I love it.
With a deadline looming, I wanted to make a fairly simple dress. That also allows the print to shine. Using a pattern that I knew fit me well helped save time. The Azur Dress pattern from Atelier Scammit is what I used for my Azure Azur dress that I shared here. This time I made it sleeveless for a more summery look. I also added a bias-band collar and quite a bit of length. It’s a straightforward pattern, so even with my changes, the hardest part was finding a way to match the print at the center front and fit it into the amount of yardage I had.
Making a sleeved top into a sleeveless look isn’t necessarily as simple as not sewing on the sleeves. The Azur bodice has a rather high, fitted armhole which looks great with sleeves but wasn’t what I had in mind this time. I turned to one of my favorite sewing books for guidance. In How to Make Clothes that Fit and Flatter, Adele Margolis explains that the shoulder line can be extended slightly to make a softer sleeveless style.
When I cut out the dress, I added about 1.5 inches to the shoulder at each side of the yoke, as you can see here. I added the same at the shoulder line of the dress fronts, then drew a line to blend the new armscye into the side seam (as shown in Margolis's illustration above.)
For the back, I just drew a straight line to the existing side seam. That was more than 1.5 inches but no problem — the excess width was added to the center back gathers.
When sewing the dress, I faced the armscyes with bias strips. Here you can see one strip basted in place. Then I trimmed the seam and turned the bias to the inside. That was easy!
The neckline was a little more fiddly. The pattern is a proper shirt dress with the center fronts cut on a straight line right up to the neck. I wanted the neck to lie a bit open. In front of the mirror I tried folding under the button plackets until I got the effect I wanted. The neckline edges are about 1.5 inches apart at top, sloping towards the top button at mid-chest level.
In the pattern, the center front button bands are the straight-grain, folded-under kind. After I widened the neckline opening I had to improvise a facing for my new angled section. I used bias facings set in above the top button, similar to what I did for the armscyes.
Because the print is a black line drawing, I wanted to use black trimmings on the dress for a slightly retro look. I envisioned lots of vintage black glass buttons down the front and a black belt. How about a black neckline to finish it off? I tried using the band collar included in the pattern, but it sat more upright than what I had in mind. In the end I went back to the basics — a simple bias band.
A bias strip cut from a scrap of silk dupioni was folded with the help of a bias maker (seriously, one of my all-time favorite sewing tools). The dupioni steamed nicely into the same curved shape as the neckline. I basted it in place so it wouldn't shift during sewing, and it turned out well. Doesn't it provide the perfect touch of black to tie everything together?
Now that I have a buttonhole attachment for my 1950s Singer Featherweight, I no longer dread making buttonholes. I've been using a lot of buttons since I got it! And of course I had to match the print at the button placket.
The dress was done just in time to wear to a friend’s birthday dinner. Now it's a new favorite.
I had been curious to try one of the Japanese cotton lawns. We sell a lot of them, and I’m happy to report that it’s good stuff. High quality, easy to work with, soft and comfortable to wear. They compare favorably with certain famous English lawns but are a fraction of the price. Enjoy!
