The Short Sleeve Work Dress from Nani IRO Sewing Studio

I have been quiet… quietly obsessing with this fabric from nani IRO’s beau yin yang collection from 2 years ago. It is one of my favorite collections since the whole collection is in my favorite monochromatic palette.

 

The Short Sleeve Work Dress from Nani IRO Sewing Studio 

How it started – I was tasked to make this dress for a Very Important Person. Without divulging her identity, just take it that she’s someone with great taste and looks good in everything she wears. I sent her a couple of links and she picked out this dress pattern, as well as the fabric. (See what I meant about great taste? :P) I was pretty nervous cutting into the fabric, worried that I won’t do justice to either fabric or pattern but I think I didn’t need to. The fabric is magical and they were perfect for each other.

 

I followed the pattern as it is. Including the matching belt tie which you can’t really see in the picture because of the print.

The only thing I changed about the pattern – I didn’t like how there were so many exposed overlocked seams on the inside of the garment. Even the armholes were finished by overlocking and just folding over. I felt that with such a fine cotton lawn there should be an added luxe to it and the dress should feel smooth from both the inside and outside. So I used French seams for all the seams, including the side pockets. I couldn’t find instructions on how to do it so it’s youtube to the rescue! I found this really great tutorial on youtube. A little bit tedious but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty simple. Must not skip the ironing though!

I had just the right mother of pearl buttons in my stash which went perfectly with the fabric, there are metallic accents on some of the flowers.

In the inside of the top placket, I did some fussy cutting and used the selvedge portion with the designer’s name on it.

Pretty chuffed with the results and today she will receive her gift. I hope she will like it!

Tomorrow I’ll post the 2nd gift I made for her with the fabric. Stay tuned!