Ever since I found a new base pattern with a good fit for my body shape, I wanted to try al kinds of garments. One garment I’m thinking about a lot lately is a corduroy dress. Based on a shirtdress, but really feminin, and with a twist.
I started drawing the pattern for the back yoke first. The fun thing about back yokes is you have a nice way of finishing the shoulder seams without visible fabric edges. Also you can nicely close, or redirect the shoulder dart, like I did here.
Next I drew the back- and front pattern. For the back panel I added a big pleat in the center, redirected the middle dart towards the hemline, and flared out the side seam. This to create the extra volume a dress would need. For the front panel I redirected part of the bust dart towards the hemline, and added the same amount of volume on the side seam.
Now onto the sleeves. I wanted big volume with a high cuff. On the sleeve itself I flarred out towards the hemline on 5 different points. The lenght I kept as if it was a regular lenght sleeve. By adding higher cuffs the sleeve would pop out a bit, to add extra to the volume I wanted. Another thing I did was make the left cuff 2cm wider, so it would fit over my watch. The benefits of making your own clothes.
I finished with drawing pattern pieces for side seam pockets (obviously), and a breast pocket with flap. But because I wanted my dress to be just a bit different, I chose to stitch on the pocket on the left side, but the flap on the right side.
I wanted to start using the pattern drawing books I have more, so I chose a collar from the book Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi. Maybe you have already noticed I’m a big fan of these books. I chose a collar with the illusion of two collars which is made up of three parts. For the first trial I followed the steps as explained in the book, and made a toile. However I thought the collar wasn’t laying flat enough and was pulling in the neckline. So for the second try I opened up a bit more. This gave the collar a bit more lenght on the outside so it wouldn’t ‘pull’ on the back.
Below you can see two of the three pattern pieces. The top one is the original collar, as described by the book. The bottom one is with the alterations I made.
The second try of the collar was a way better fit, so I used those patterns pieces to finish my dress. And once the collar was attached I only had to decide on buttons, make buttonholes and sew on the buttons.
After finishing I also made a belt to go with the dress out of the last pieces of fabric. The fabric has a percentage of elastic in it, so I didn’t had to use extra elastic. For the closure of the belt I used a bikini closure I had laying around. For this I did however had to decided the lenght of my belt beforehand, because it would not be adjustable.
Number of seam I had to redo: 1
The first sleeve cuffs I attached were a bit to high, and without closing mechanism. The cuff ended where my arms were already widening, and the elasticity in the fabric was not enough to be comfortable.
I’m glad I tried out the collar beforehand, so I could also test the method of stitching it onto the dress. I did however created more difficulty by choosing a flat felled seam stitched towards the back. Especially for the side seam pockets, which normally are oriented towards the front.
