05 April 2012

A Village Frock for Easter

I did it!  I finally made a Village Frock!


This dress is intended for Dolly's Easter dress.  I'm not sure how I managed to get it together with the house, but I did.  I'm tickled with how it came out.
I've wanted to make a Village Frock since I saw Dana's (and this one!).  However, it was already out of print by the time I had learned of them.  Fast foward to last year, and a dear reader offered to send me a copy, from Spain no less!  Thank you so much, Maria.  :)


The fabric is from Tanya Whelan's Delilah line.  I purchased it on sale last winter in hopes of making a dress for Dolly.

Here is a detail of the buttons.  I used fabric scraps from Sister's Jump Rope Dress for the buttons.  I found my covered button kit on etsy.  I reduced the number of buttons to five, just because I like odd numbers.  I also sewed the bottom of the opening closed for modesty issues.


I added topstitching along the yokes and gathered sleeves.  It looks nice, and reinforces my hand stitching.


I also added a contrast hem for fun.  I thought a little bit of blue peeking out would be fun.  I made it similarly to the hem on my Portfolio dress.


Here's another picture of the final product.  I'm happy it's done!  Don't be intimidated by the gathered yoke and sleeves.  This dress is essentially a fancy peasant dress.


I'm also working on a dress for Sister.  I seem to be thinking in peasant dress shapes lately, and hers is loosely based on Leila and Ben's Sweet Dress, and my Banded Peasant Blouse Tutorial.  Can't wait to show it off, and I'm crossing my fingers I finish it before Sunday!  (Done!  Check it out HERE.)

If you need a fun late minute Easter basket idea, you might want to try my Fabric Easter Basket Tutorial.  Sadly, we probably won't be using ours this year, because they are buried in the storage unit.


Sharing with The Train to Crazy, KoJo DesignsCreation Corner, and Freckled Laundry.

Wahoo!  Featured on KoJo Designs and Creation Corner.

15 comments:

  1. Congratulations! what a lovely dress.

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  2. This is so pretty! I need to get some of the Delilah fabric line as my youngest is named Delilah. :)

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  3. I really like how your dress turned out :D
    it's too bad that sewing pattern is out of print :(

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  4. Love, love, love the fabric - what a sweet spring and Easter dress. I don't know how you did it with the house either - Great Job Mom!!

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  5. That's beautiful, Chris. I love the gathered neck (yoke) and sleeves. I'm on a peasant dress kick too! I haven't made any yet but I swear on a stack that I JUST added about 6 patterns to my Etsy cart. Too funny. I can't wait to see Sis's dress too. Do you buy your fabric locally? We have a nice quilt shop that carries Amy Butler and some other nice ones but twice now, you've mentioned lines that I've never heard of. I purchase on Etsy sometimes too. Just curious. That fabric gorgeous & I love the buttons & hem.

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  6. So cute, Chris! Great job! I love the contrast hem peeking out... awesome idea. Hope you enjoyed your Easter :)

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  7. I love the fabric and buttons and gathers and hem. Okay, I like everything about the dress, I guess. :)

    How you're finding time to make dresses with the house project going on is beyond me. My hero!

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  8. It's really wonderful how sewists come together and share patterns. I have read so much about this pattern, it is really is a beautiful frock.

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  9. Oh, I just LOVE it Chris! It turned out so beautiful. I am sure your daughter just adores it too. I love the blue under hem. What a fun idea. You are amazing. I hope you got your other one done :)

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  10. This came out so sweet! I'm doing some major catch-up reading back through a bunch of your projects and you have been one very busy lady. Love love love everything you've been doing!

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  11. This is so lovely + I'm so jealous that you got your hands on the Village Frock pattern!!

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  12. aww, what a lovely finished dress!!

    I, like you, am late to the Village Frock following but am totally engrossed and am now on a mission to find a copy lol here's hoping that it won't take too long or my little lady might wind up with a doll dress instead ;-)

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  13. @MistyThere is a "free" (50 cent download) pattern that is very similar. Here's a link:
    Brooklyn Frock

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  14. Somehow I didn't get the notification of your response!!

    Fast forward to today, and I'm searching the net for a unicorn ahem I mean, searching for a seamstress selling dresses made from the unavailable village frock pattern or someone reselling an outgrown one etc... And this post appeared in the search results with your response to my comment. The Internet is a crazy place indeed lol

    Thank you, for linking the Brooklyn frock pattern... I'm Downloading it, but on first appearance I'm hesitant. I don't love the differences and am not quite confident about attempting to freehand to adjust it more like the original- meanwhile I would love to purchase dresses for my youngest two girls made from the sugar city pattern- by any chance, do you know of any places I should look? I'm Searching for a smaller sized one year old, and a slightly larger sized four year old...

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How sweet of you to stop by. Kind words are always welcome.