Brumby dress!

It's the Year of the Horse! Okay, so I only discovered that after making this dress but don't you deserve some Brumbies in your life, to celebrate 2014?

 FABRIC: Brumby 4, India Ink on Raw, Working Cloth hand-printed cotton/linen by Cloth of Sydney, 140cm wide, $59/m, Oakshott cotton in Mica for pocket backs and binding.

PATTERN: Stylish Dress Book 2, pattern D 'Box Dress' (as seen on cover), made without sleeves, bias bound (turned to inside) at neck and armholes and with added pockets.

We have just ordered more copies of this pattern book so let us know if you would like us to save you a copy when it comes in (should be soon).

Just look at this fabric! The cotton/linen basecloth is full of delicious natural flecks and the print has such a fabulous irregular hand-printed quality.

We have samples of the whole Working Cloth range and you can order any with a 3m minimum. But so you, our lovely customers, could buy smaller amounts, we have ordered in a few prints that you can buy with our regular 20cm minimum. We've chosen designs that we think are great for winter dressmaking and also home decorating items like cushions, or wall art.

Pockets are pretty much essential in my clothing, but I didn't want to interrupt the print on the front of this dress with patch pockets. I also didn't want to add bulk with traditional side-seam pocket bags. So I made these that I'm calling 'inset patch pockets' because I couldn't find any other name for them! 

 Let us know if you'd like a photo tutorial on the construction. It's very simple - just a semi-circle cut into the side of the front at hand-height (shape made by tracing around a saucer), then the edge bound in bias tape. This is backed with a patch shape made by tracing widely around my hand. The curved edge was zigzagged to prevent fraying then the piece pinned on and topstitched on along a line I drew on the front in heat-erasable ink. (Repeat for other side pocket.) The front of the dress including pockets was then treated as just one piece when attaching to the back.
 (pocket view from inside)

Whilst the Cloth fabric is certainly on the higher price end of fabrics we stock, at 140cm wide, this entire dress was made from one metre (plus 25cm of the Oakshott for pockets and bindings). Cloth is a fantastic Australia small business, screen printing by hand with water-based, non-toxic inks on all-natural fibres. These Working Cloth fabrics are a great weight for trans-seasonal garments and winter layering. Choose simple shapes like Japanese patterns, A-line or pleated skirts.

Giddyup!

- Jane & Fiona xx