Thursday, May 28, 2015

A Girl's Dress with Ribbon Sailor Collar

Sailor dress patterns have been on my 'to sew' list for my daughter for quite a while. Mostly I've been hoping that they would become a fashion trend. After waiting years for this trend to happen and seeing this 2014 Oscar de la Renta dress, it seems that there is a 2015 nautical Spring/Summer trend which is extending into Autumn/Winter. These mentions are good enought for me!

The pattern I used for the dress is from a newly released English translation of Japanese sewing patterns from Tuttle Books. 'Sewing for your Girls'. I intended sewing this pattern for a review of the book, but took a few too many shortcuts and didn't follow the pattern exactly. I also sewed a second dress and will review the book in my next post.

 
 
 

 

 

 

The pattern pieces were cut from a second-hand man's shirt, and I included the centre front button bands from the shirt as the dress opening. This is very different from what the pattern suggests, but made it so much quicker to sew the dress....... and I didn't have to sew buttons or buttonholes!

 
 
 

The sailor collar pattern pieces (undercollar and main collar pieces) were cut from the sleeves.
 
 

The details are my favourite parts of this dress. Sailor stripes are usually created by sewing rows of a contrasting colour. Any of the striped and stitched ribbons at Jane Means would make an excellent choice for a collar like this. I chose a purple stitched janemeans ribbon which created the illusion of stripes. I mitred the ribbon at the corners for neatness, and used Liberty of London bias binding for the neckline and armholes instead of the facings in the pattern.

 
 

My daughter found these pom-poms and appliqué in my stash, so we added them and a purple ric-ric hem to complete the dress.

 

 

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16 comments:

  1. its absolutely gorgeous. sailor tops have been on my mind to do for a while, and this is very inspiring.... the finish of yours is perfection....

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    1. Thanks Eimear, I had to get the sailor collar 'out of my system'!! and I'd happily sew a few more because I love how they look. There lots of examples of sailor collars if you do a search on Pinterest, just in case you need more inspiration ;-)

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    2. what pattern did you use for this collar?

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    3. Hello Kelly, I've only just seen your comment! The collar is from the Japanese Pattern book mentioned above http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/origami-crafts/sewing-for-your-girls-paperback-with-flaps
      I hope that helps. You will also find sailor collar patterns in vintage patterns and there's a new girls dress pattern at merchantandmills.com with a similar style.

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  2. This is amazing!! What a great idea, and I hope your daughter loves it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lynne, she loves it, and I love being able to use the fabric in old shirts!!

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  3. SO SWEET and wonderful that it's a refashion! Sailor outfits are always in fashion!

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  4. Thanks Veronica, they always seem to be in fashion alright & I've no idea why I waited so long to sew one!

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  5. Hi I love that you made this dress with an old shirt!

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  7. INSPIRING! Thank you for Sharing. This is absolutely darling. We make items for Operation Christmas Child and it would be wonderful to include these darling dresses. Extra mens shirts are things we have several of at home. Now I need to save for the pattern book.

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