My Japanese “Dress A”
Here’s my version of “Dress A” from Yoshiko Tsukiori’s Style Dress Book.
The fabric was another remnant from Rathdowne Fabrics and Remnants. It’s a medium weight cotton and I paid $7.20 for two metres. Have you noticed how I only include the cost of fabric when it’s a bargain?
I cut out and sewed up the size 10, even though my bust measurements suggested a 16! Japanese patterns are designed to be roomy, but in my opinion, there is a difference between roomy and enormous.
In the photos above and below, the gathers aren’t sitting as well as I’d like in the bust area (it was a little windy!), but as I’ve worn it this afternoon it’s been fine.
After trying on the version I made for my sister-in-law, I knew I would need to shorten the dress and lower the darts by an inch. Megan Nielsen’s tutorial on altering the height of a bust dart was very helpful (thanks for the link Sew Busy Lizzy).
All was going swimmingly until I tried on the finished dress late last night and discovered that the back neckline was gaping badly. I was too focused on solving the problem to take photos, but it looked like below. What to do?
Source: In-House Patterns
I removed the binding and gathered a portion of the back neckline to eliminate the excess fabric. It looked great on the hanger, but terrible on me. Creating two little pleats was also tried and abandoned. Google was consulted and an In-House Patterns tutorial gave me the answer I needed. Introducing… drum-roll… shoulder darts! Have you used shoulders darts before? I hadn’t even heard of them!
The majority of the gaping fabric was removed with the darts, but it was a fine balance between a good fit and still being able to get the dress over my head!
Although, probably not the most flattering of shapes, this is a perfect dress for our hot summers and my life as a Mum. I have some lovely Japanese cotton set aside to make another, but I’m not sure if the pattern is worthy yet. I think I’ll wear this one for a while as see how it goes.
Have you made a dress lately?
Lovely and perfect for our current weather. I have this same back neckline gape and now remove a 1.5cm wedge from the centre back of patterns or do the dart on the pattern and slash the lower dart. It is all trial and error though…
This is helpful information Leith. Thanks 🙂
Wow I love those shoulder darts – they look fabulous!
Isn’t it amazing what you can teach yourself with online resources late at night?!
Yes, your bust dart is still too high…Very odd- the pattern is very questionable….
Looks great – and those shoulder darts are a fab idea, I’ll file that one away for future use! I’m a bit obsessed with the French Deer & Doe Belladone dress pattern at the moment. Just made my third but haven’t been able to get a good pic yet to blog it.
[…] the gaping back neckline issues with my last Japanese make, I made a quick muslin of this top and decided to remove a 1.5cm wedge from the back neckline. I […]
Love the shoulder darts too. Lots of vintage patterns have them actually. Something that I need to get into my regular alteration repertoire (along with the short torso, thick waist alterations that I am fairly used to doing).
[…] Firstly, I took two wedges out of the back neckline to eliminate the shoulder darts I added last time. The result… a back neckline without a gape in sight! Insert happy dance […]
I made mine from lightweight denim with a contrasting patterned border on the bottom, looks quite nice with a red Minnie Cooper cardigan, loose belt and boots in the NZ winter 🙂 I made it according to my measurements (size 16) and the dress is very voluminous (hence the belt for a bit of shape)! Could have probably gone done a few sizes, too! However, it is very easy to wear, very comfortable. Might try and make it in a light cotton fabric for summer (maybe a couple of sizes smaller).
It is always good to hear about how others find a pattern. I hadn’t even thought of using a slightly heavy weight fabric and making a winter dress. Thanks for the inspiration.
[…] Dress A from the Stylish Dress Book (version 1 and version […]