Tulip Dress

Just before the weekend I received the latest Ottobre, and some of the designs in there show a simplicity almost like the one that you usually see in Japanese patterns – I love it. Sunday I went ahead and traced one of the patterns (#28 from 3/2011) – I originally wanted to make it for Frida, but it didn’t come as small as that, so I went with one for Ronja instead.

Ronja hasn’t been measured for a while, so I did just before I started tracing, and it turns out she’s a size 116 according to her height, but only a 98 width – phew! I decided to add room for growth, and traced a 116 height and 104 width for her – still I had to concentrate while tracing to make everything match up. I always highly recommend measuring before you sew up Ottobre garments, because they tend to be quite wide in the sizes, but they fit perfectly if you go by measurement.

Tulip dress (Sunny sailor dress)

I used linen for the dress and spiced it up a little with Amy Butler’s “Daisy Bouquet” for the sleeves. I added two appliqued tulips in order to create a link from the sleeves to the main fabric, and I think it works fine, even if the edge stitching of the tulips isn’t the best I’ve ever made – for some reason the fabric didn’t quite move properly while I was sewing. Other than that everything came together just fine, and it’s a perfect fit for Ronja.

Tulip dress (Sunny sailor dress) - pleats and appliqué

I haven’t made this kind of pleats before, but I find them such a neat alternative to gathering – a beautiful design detail (yet slightly more time consuming). This is a wonderful summer dress – and it’s original name “Sunshine Sailor Dress” goes so well with the fact that we will be spending this year’s summer vacation on our boat! 🙂

11 comments

  1. Beangirl says:

    that is lovely! I wasn’t totally sure about this issue when I saw the design sheet I guess because everything was so simple, but now I can’t wait for it to arrive. You’ve inspired me!

    • Astrid says:

      Thanks Medrie – it’s funny because making this dress, I was just thinking that I seem to be using linen a lot. Well, well – what can I say – I love linen, and I always try to spice it up with something else! 🙂

  2. Elizabeth says:

    This is just gorgeous. I love the applique. I usually don’t like that kind of thing, but yours is so elegant. I’m excited that I just started my Ottobre subscription. I am going to look at it tonight!

    • Astrid says:

      Thanks Elizabeth! You’ll probably find that sometimes you need to see through their rendition in the magazine – sometimes they overdo the embellishment a bit, but the patterns are great and they can easily be altered to fit the style you like. Enjoy your magazine! 😉

  3. Jenny says:

    It’s relly lovely. I’d almost given up about Ottobre but this last issue really seams to be something for me, that dress is beautifully shaped. Thanks for the tips about measurements!

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