introducing Mary

 Scalloped broderie elevates the simple princess silhouette to a charming and timeless heirloom. The Mary dress features demure sleeves and a slight bateau neckline for a classic style that is completely age appropriate.

 The sleeve hems match the skirt and showcase the embroidery. Unlined sleeves are delicate and graceful.

 This dress is lined and underlined in cotton for structure, opacity and durability. A few layers of tulle give the skirt an extra fluff, but the soft cotton lawn lining makes it smooth and comfortable to wear. No itchy legs will distract her on her special day!

 A soft, white satin bow finishes the dress for Communion Day with a gentle shine. The matching satin headband is available as well. This close up best shows the detail in the fabric.

 A quick and easy change of sash and headband completely transforms this dress to a party ready look.

photography: Amanda Hall
dress pattern: Oliver + S

shoes: Zappos

I wish I may

This summer was full of special events for Isadora. There was an outdoor summer wedding and her grandparents’ 50th anniversary party at Longwood Gardens – not to mention her own September birthday! So she had the perfect excuse for a really special dress.

Once the humidity kicks in, it’s so hard to beat the heat. But I really think a dress is the best way to be comfortable and still feel nice in the summer. I looked at fine cotton voile and a not too fitted dress that gives her plenty of room to breathe.

I found this dandelion print before I even met with Isa and knew it would be perfect for her. The airy orange and pink design spoke to me as the summer heat set in. Full, saturated colors show up so well under the harsh sun, but the ivory backdrop keeps it light. It turns out Isa loves wishes! When I showed her this swatch, she didn’t want to see anything else.

The bodice is both lined and underlined in ivory cotton voile and thoroughly finished by machine and by hand to be smooth and soft against the skin. The full, pleated skirt is lined in cotton voile and finished with French seams. I wanted a little extra fluff to fill out the long full skirt, but I didn’t want too many layers to weigh her down in the heat. Instead, I attached a tulle ruffle to the hem of the skirt lining, creating a kind of petticoat. This gave shape to the skirt but didn’t add any bothersome layers to her body or hips. The tulle sits between the dress and the lining, so there is only soft cotton against Isa’s legs.

It’s hard to imagine a party dress without a big sash and bow. Here I finished a very wide piece of pumpkin colored voile with a tiny hem and hairline seams to create a laissez fair sash with a soft, full bow.

The dress and sash fabric have a silky finish that is a pleasure to wear.

 A little extra wish sits on the shoulder, where I embellished the dandelion design with some hand embroidery. A few long stitches and French knots make it look half blown away already. And there it is - the prettiest summer occasion frock a girl could wish for!

en francąis!*

I’ve been waiting so long to share this project, I hope you’ll forgive me the gratuitous photos. In the spring, I ordered a few very special patterns all the way from France. They were unlike any patterns I've seen, particularly Dorotheé. The charming vintage sweetness of the teeny poofy sleeves, the gathers, the inverted pleat and the very short hem seemed to me quite special indeed.

I am completely smitten with Citronille. Such lovely designs! This one was beautifully drafted and came together easily. I was a little confused about where to place the gathers exactly, but worked it out. I like that it has a generous placket with just two little buttons. It goes easily over baby's head without buttoning all the way down the back. I plan to use this construction in the future. The instructions are in French, but if you’re an experienced seamstress, you can probably work it out from the diagrams alone.

I had a few years of French in college and I had to be able to read a fair bit of French for research purposes in grad school. That experience was enough to get me through the pattern instructions, though I still had to look up quite a few words. After all, when you’re researching early 20th century literature, sewing jargon isn’t on the vocab list. Industry specific terms are usually hard to find in your standard dictionary, and I had to rely on my sewing experience and make a few guesses.

Figuring this out is fun for me. I like languages because I like learning about other people and their ways of doing things.  One of the things I always tried to get my students to understand – way back in that other life when I was a language teacher – is that languages are inextricably bound up in their culture. You don’t get one without the other. Translating one language to another is not like balancing a math equation. It isn’t just a question of substituting our English word for the equivalent word in French. Sometimes there is no equivalent and sometimes the same word has a different cultural meaning. Sewing in French reminded me just a little of my years in Europe. Things were in some ways the same, but also very diffent.

Back to the dress. The only thing I changed was to self line the bodice. For help, I referred to the Puppet Show dress pattern. I hand stitched it into place. I used French seams and bias bound the armscye seams. Gosh, I should have shown you the inside! I hand stitched the tiny bracelet sleeve cuffs and the hem. I don’t think I’ve ever accomplished such a lovely dress in my life.

The fabric is cotton lawn by Moda from the Regent Street collection. It is as beautiful as the pattern. I made a very deep hem to help the fabric drape nicely. Shell buttons came from the LYS. They are rather simple have a slightly imperfect handmade charm.  These pictures are from a photo shoot with George Aubrey Photography for her one year portrait.

Have you tried foreign language patterns? French? Japanese?

*At my eldest’s preschool graduation, the kids sang the Yellow Submarine in French. After each child’s solo, the music teacher sang, “all together now, en francais!” and the group sang the chorus. There were 30 kids, so we heard the song over and over. And over. Consequently, “dans une sous-marin jaune” was stuck in my head for at least a week right around the time the patterns came in the mail.