Happy Friday! There’s a new player in the indie pattern circuit, and I was excited to be invited to try out Brooklyn Pattern’s brand new offering: The Franklin Dress. Erin, the creator, has such a fascinating background (circus, ballet and opera costume designer!) and because I worked in theater for a while, I feel a kinship with her.
The Franklin dress has a vintage-inspired feel with a pleated yoke and puffy sleeves, and it actually reminds me of the many Japanese patterns I’ve pumped out to date. So obviously, I love the style. And when you pair a pretty pattern with an equally pretty polka dotted cotton, well…I’d call it a winner.
We had a prop situation in that K kept wanting to try different ones, so I apologize that there are so many photos (and blurry ones!) in advance. She insisted that I include them all, and I am nothing if not an obliging parent. We started with a glass tchotchke shaped like a Hershey’s kiss.
Then we tried a gold clutch to match the vintage gold buttons on her yoke.
And we can’t forget the Scholastic book order form.
But this was her favorite:
I love those metal letters. The Robert Kaufman dotty chambray is from here, and it’s the softest, loveliest cotton. I cut a size 8 for K, and it’s a little long, but I don’t mind. I read through the instructions which were pretty clear (but maybe some steps were missing?). However, I find that I like to do things my own way these days, and I didn’t set in the sleeves but used my usual cheater method; I also basted the yoke and facing together to keep things tidy as I sewed. All in all, the whole dress came together easily. One other thing you may or may not have noticed…my pleats are facing outward instead of inward and this was purely my personal preference. Sometimes I get nitpicky about stuff like that.
And hey, why stop at just sewing the dress? I felt like a dose of color was in order, and wanted to see how quickly I’d be able to sew this if I eliminated the pleats as well as the pockets (which are part of the black dress, but I couldn’t get good shots of her showing them off), shortened the sleeves and made it into a tunic. Can you guess? 1 hour and 44 minutes. I was a speedster because I only had an hour and forty-five minutes before I had to go pick up K. Got it done in the nick of time.
I’m not sure how long the black dress took. I did a rare thing and worked on it little by little over a four-day period — I never do this, because I’m impatient and want to get it all done in one fell swoop. It was actually super stress-free and very enjoyable. It was fun to speed sew this tunic too, though.
I’m liking the Franklin pattern! Oh, the cute apple fabric was K’s find. Perfect for fall!
K made that necklace out of buttons she filched from my stash. She got sort of psychobabbly with her interpretation of what each button meant: “The green turtle is for envy, the purple is for magical emotions, the pink elephant is for happiness…”
Anyway. Erin is offering a giveaway! Here’s the Rafflecopter snazziness, and it sounds as though you might need to “like” her facebook page? That world is a mystery to me. If you’d like to enter the giveaway, here it is:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I’ve inundated you with enough words and images for today so I’ll bid you adieu and am wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Totally in love of the props!!. Now the dress design is very nice and classy, I think the fabrics choices were spot on. It is very nice to see versatility in a pattern, and I can see good potential in this one. I like both versions, but I’m falling more to the side of the dotty chambray. Lovely work Sanae!
Thank you, Maria! It’s a pattern that’s very versatile, I think, and K thinks they’re both great!
The dotty one looks more mature and can probably stretch a longer way. However, your 104 minutes were well spent on the second dress. Sanae Speedy is you.
Ha, I was also sweating and practically out of breath with the 104 minute dress. Thanks, Jing!
Could K get any cuter? Everything is beautiful, as usual!!!
K looks so much older to me these days…she’s going off to sleepovers like it’s no big deal, and I’m still trying to get used to it. Thanks, Greta!
Uauh awesome chambray!!! I love it with those buttons
Thanks, Idoia! My mom has the best stuff that she shares with me :-)!
How fun – another new Indie pattern company! And with such an interesting design background, it should be fun to watch her designs develop.
I laughed out loud at the Scholastic book order prop! Oh my – since my oldest started school many moons ago, those have been the bane of my existence. My kids hate when I recycle them, so I have to do it on the sly and hope they don’t catch me. Love it that K deems it prop-worthy!
But even with a cool prop like that, your outfits are the items that truly shine! Love the pin tucking along the front bodice, and the dotted chambray is such a perfect fabric (really, for most things!). The second one looks more youthful, which I”m sure K loves. I’m sure both will fit into her wardrobe nicely! Thanks for joining the pattern tour:)
Thank you, Lucinda! And yes, those Scholastic order forms drive me batty – they’re all over the house and K loves them to death!
I love the dotty fabric but I’m not sure if the look is reading a bit like a very pretty nightie to me. I really like the tunic length – I think it would look really great at that length with the long sleeves as well. 🙂
So funny, Traveller, because I was thinking it might be nightgownish too, but I figure K will grow soon enough and it’ll look a little more proportional. I think a long-sleeved tunic would be awesome!
Oh Sanae, these are amazing! I adore them both so much!
Thanks, Rachel!! Your girls would look adorable in a Franklin dress, methinks. 🙂
I love the look of this dress! I wrote it off because it has sleeves. I don’t do sleeves. I followed the link to Cheater Sleeves. Thanks!! Maybe I will try one more sleeve.
The cheater method rocks, Max! Probably not technically correct but the end result always looks good to me!