When we were taking these photos a couple weeks ago, our beautiful model Sierra twirled in this dress and said exactly the words I would want to hear:

“This is a dream dress! It’s so flattering and comfortable at the same time!”

Well, thank you Sierra, for helping me introduce Hawthorn to everyone.

A shirtdress that works with curves

Now, I’ve always loved a good shirtdress. They have that casual chicness that reminds me of gamine starlets like Jean Seberg and (of course) Audrey.

But it’s hard to find one that actually works with my body, and I suspect others have faced the same challenge. They are often quite boxy or unfitted or just puffy (and not in a good way). All well and good if you are a swanlike pixie, but I wanted a truly universal shape that looks just as good on the curvaceous ladies.

Hawthorn still has that late 50s or early 60s casual chic thing going. But the bodice is fitted, while still leaving enough room for easy movement at the waist. The skirt is full, but the fullness comes from a sleek semi-circle cut that drapes (and twirls) wonderfully, rather than pleats or gathers which add extra fabric at the waist. You get a shape that’s streamlined, but still very feminine.

The blouse version has a peplum cut in a similar way, showing off curves and emphasizing the waist without adding too much flare at the hips.

Easy to style for any season

It’s hard for me to look at a dress like this without imagining all the styling possibilities.

Version 2 is perfect for the cooler transition seasons, especially layered with a pullover or a cardigan and tights. I’m visualizing it paired with a light sweater and a vintage brooch. Or, make it in a chambray (like we did) and roll up the sleeves for an effortless summer dress.

Version 3 is the perfect summer dress for me. We made ours shown here in white seersucker, and it is so breezy and comfortable. Just add sandals (our clogs shown above with the white dress were provided by Sven, who makes my favorites) and a straw bag. Done.

Classic construction

Shirtdresses often borrow a bit from menswear, which is why they’re such classics. Menswear is so traditional and stable that women’s clothing inspired by it never really goes out of style, yet never feels dull.

Version 2 has a particular menswear touch that I love, a traditional cuff and sleeve placket on the 3/4 length sleeve. This, by the way, also makes it easy to roll to sleeves.

Suitable for many skill levels

While this is an intermediate pattern, I’d say it’s on the easy end of intermediate. Because of the cuff, version 2 is the most challenging, though as always we provide extensive detail in the instructions along with links to tutorials. Versions 1 and 3 are much closer to the beginner level.

Sew-along, special launch discount, and contest!

Ok, now for the fun stuff to go along with it!

• Sew-along: We’ll be starting a sew-along for this dress in a couple weeks. If you’d like to follow along with all of our step-by step tutorials on each step of the process, get your pattern now!
• Contest: Because the Laurel contest was such a huge success, we’re going to do another one, although on a much smaller scale. There will be another reader’s choice this time and you can choose the top three favorites. I’ll announce details on that soon.
• Discount: We love celebrating launches with a special discount, so order your Hawthorn by Friday, and get 15% off!

Watch a short video featuring Hawthorn below:

Watch on Vimeo

Purchase Hawthorn in the Colette Patterns shop now!

Credits:
Model: Sierra McKenzie
Photographer: Sarai Mitnick
Photo assistance: Kristen Blackmore
Wardrobe assistance: Meredith Neal
Hair and Makeup: Robin Carlisle / Holiday Hair Studio
Shoes: Clogs c/o Sven’s Clogs, loafers are vintage Brooks Brothers

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Just a quick reminder: We’re launching the newest pattern tomorrow at 10AM Pacific. Stay tuned!

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New stuff tomorrow!

Reminder: Negroni sale ends tomorrow

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You guys seemed to enjoy our last post on vintage construction details so much, I decided to make it a regular feature.

One thing I mentioned in that post is that I wish vintage sellers took the time to photograph the inside of garments more often.

Right after I said that, I spotted this photo of the construction details of a 1920s gown Lauren of Dear Golden posted on Instagram. Lauren has some of the most amazing vintage pieces in all of the land, and I proposed that we team up and show some gorgeous vintage construction to the world.

Lauren will be providing us with detailed shots of the interior and exterior details of some of her most stunning vintage pieces so we can study them like the little fashion geeks we are. Amazing, right?

First up is this beautiful 1940s wedding gown, now for sale in her shop.

If you want to purchase this dress, it’s here in the Dear Golden shop.

Images for Constructions Details are kindly provided in conjunction with Lauren of Dear Golden Vintage, purveyor of gorgeous vintage clothing. You should visit her shop!

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Vintage Details: Ribbon Lattice

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Construction details: Chiffon, roses, and sweethearts

When I was a young sewist, I made a ton of circle skirts which, oddly enough, I learned to make from a Usenet newsgroup (I am old and a nerd). I wore them over brightly colored crinolines like a 90s goth version of Cyndi Lauper.

The one thing that always stuck in my craw about circle skirts was the hemming. Curved edges can be quite a pain to hem, because the raw edge that you fold under is bigger than the seamline. This can result in all kinds of twists and puckers.

One solution is to stitch your hems by hand. This is often my preference anyway, as I like a wide, invisible hem. But that can take a really long time, and sometimes you just want to let your machine do most of the work.

I’m going to show you my technique for hemming tricky curves with a sewing machine, and a couple tips I’ve picked up through the years.

Here’s the raw edge of my hem. You can see it’s got a bit of curve to it. We’re going to be sewing a 5/8 inch hem.

First, stitch a line of basting 1/4 inch from the raw edge, all the way around your hem. I used a red thread so you can see the basting clearly. I like to increase my thread tension just a bit when I do this.

The basting does three things:

1. It measures and marks a precise 1/4 inch for you, so you don’t have to do a lot of tedious measuring and marking by hand.
2. It forms an almost perforated line, making the hem easier to fold.
3. It very slightly eases the edge in, making it a little tighter and easier to fold under twice. Increasing the thread tension just a bit helps with this.

On the wrong side, turn along the basting and press. Holding it a little taut along the basting will help you fold the edge as you press. Use plenty of steam and press firmly (moving the iron up and down), don’t iron (pulling the iron side to side).

One your hem is pressed, turn again and press. The raw edge should be up against the bottom fold, within the hem.

You may be wondering: if we turned it over 1/4 inch, then turned 1/4 inch again, isn’t that only a 1/2 inch seam allowance?

Excellent point! But I find that the extra 1/8″ is usually taken up by the turn of cloth (that is, extra fabric that is taken up by forming the folds). If you use a very light fabric, this might not be the case. In that case, if you’re really into having a hem that’s exactly 5/8 inch, you could make your original basting 5/16 inch from the edge. I don’t imagine most of us would care that much.

Now edgestitch along the fold on the inside of your skirt to form a perfect hem. If you have an edgestitching foot, I recommend using that.

Give your hem a final press and you are done!

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Summer should be easy.

Here in Oregon, our summers are gloriously beautiful but far too brief, and followed by a whole lot of grey skies. As a result, most of us spend as much time outdoors as possible. When it’s warm and sunny, I’d rather be running, biking, hiking, gardening, grilling, or camping than thinking about what to wear. Oh, and drinking a cold beer. It is Oregon, after all. You gotta have beer.

Being from southern California, land of perpetual sunshine, I’ve learned that there’s basically one trick to surviving summer without looking like a hot mess (literally and figuratively). You just have to figure out your uniform.

The biggest challenge is remaining comfortable while still feeling cute. I’ve basically come up with a few outfit combos that work for me, like a vintage sundress and clogs, and can throw them on without a lot of brain power.

This is the newest addition to the summer outfit arsenal: a basic black leotard and a full skirt.

I’m completely in love with leotards right now, and even got Kristen to buy one.

My main impediment to wearing more skirts is that I hate dealing with tucking in blouses, and the poofiness that can sometimes result. With a high waist and large bust, I really do not need poofiness up top. The leotard has solved that problem and is so comfortable too.

Now, the skirt! Since I’ve rarely worn skirts up until now, I wanted to make a new one for summer. I chose this buttery light linen and I’m really digging it, wrinkles and all. The skirt is a semi-circle with a simple waistband. I found these gold buttons in my stash and decided to add some waistband tabs. Kristen actually designed these tabs for another pattern, but they were rejected in favor of another cool detail. But I love them so much, I decided to reuse the idea.

This whole skirt only took me a couple hours to sew. I’m officially a skirt convert.

PS: After this, I’ll be posting a tutorial on sewing a curved hem by machine, which is what I did on this skirt. I have a few tips and tricks I use that might help you out.

ETA: Several people asked about the leotard in the comments. It’s Capezio brand and I bought it here on Amazon. I needed the size large (I’m a US 8). It has a built in shelf bra, so I stuck some foam cups in (the sew-in kind you can find at fabric stores). Works great!

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Meet Kristen, the newest addition to our team!

Meet Rachel, our new web editor!

Hello Colette readers, I’m Kristina of Fischer clothing from Brooklyn and I’m thrilled Colette Patterns is giving me the opportunity to share a little tutorial with you!

Neckties seem like a pretty cliché Father’s Day gift, but they can definitely take on a whole new sentiment when you make them yourself. It’s so much more personal to hand pick a fabric you know he’ll love, isn’t it? I chose a multicolor madras pattern for my dad since he’s a pretty classic and casual dude.

When I first set out to add ties to my mens collections about two years ago, I searched high and low for a thorough tutorial on how to make them. I was unsuccessful and finally wound up buying a few ties at a thrift store and tearing them apart to see how they were constructed. I altered a few details to suit my style and have been hand-making them here in Brooklyn ever since.

I’ve replicated my patten in a downloadable version for you all to try at home. This tie is a standard 55″ length and 3 3/4″ Wide. It’s slim, and I find it looks good on a variety of body types.

Supplies Needed:

• Our free downloadable necktie pattern
• outer fabric: 3/4 yd of 45″ or 60″ wide fabric
• contrast lining fabric: 1/4 yd
• interlining (I use muslin): 1 1/4 yd
• thread to match the outer fabric
• iron & ironing board
• sewing machine
• scissors

Instructions:

Before starting, assemble the tiles of your necktie pattern pieces and cut out the pattern. Then follow the instructions below.

1. Cut the Necktie Front (A) and Necktie Tail (B) from the main fabric, cutting these pieces on the bias. Cut the Necktie Front Lining (E) and Necktie Tail Lining (D) from the contrast lining fabric. Cut the Necktie Interlining piece from the interlining fabric. Pay attention to the grainline, as all these pieces should be cut on the bias.

This is what the pieces look after they’ve been cut out:

2. With the right sides together, match up the flat, short ends of the Necktie Front (A) and Nectie Tail (B), as shown. Stitch together with 3/8 seam allowance.

3. Press seam open.

4. Fold the tie in half lengthwise, with the right sides together, as shown below.

Take a look at the ends of your tie and you will see a small flat tip. Stitch across the tip with a 3/8″ seam allowance, stopping 3/8″ from the diagonal edge. In other words, stitch this tip for a few stitches, but do not stitch into the seam allowance. Backstitch to secure.

This small stitched edge will allow you to turn the tip under later.

5. Unfold, then match right sides of the main fabric to right sides of the liner pieces.

6. Sew along the notched edge and one side of point, stopping at the tip before sewing over the small tuck.

7. Starting on the opposite side of the tuck, sew opposite side of point.

8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 on the other end of the tie. Trim away excess seam allowance.

9. Turn ends inside out and press. You can use a fancy point turner for this, but a simple knitting needle or chopstick will work just fine. Now you’ll see that the small tuck helped to miter the corner.

10. With your tie right side down, lay interlining along the center and tuck ends into the little pockets you created with the outer fabric and the lining. Try and weasel the points together on the inside as closely as possible.

Here, I’m showing the interlining above the lining, so you can see how it should be aligned. But you will want to tuck it inside of the lining piece.

11. Fold over one unfinished edge so the interlining is tucked against the crease.

12. Fold up the opposite unfinished edge.

13. Turn the exposed edge under about 1/2″, making sure to keep the folded as close to the center of the tie’s length as possible. This is your finished center back seam.

14. About 3″ from the bottom of the inside lining, slipstitch the center back seam to the other side of the tie. It does help here to have a few pins to keep it in place.

Also, if you fold the tie in half lengthwise as you sew, you get a better vantage point to catch both pieces of fabric.

15. Once you’ve completed your slipstitching, you’ll need to put a loop of some sort to hold the tail in place while being worn. I use my labels, but you could easily use a a piece of bias tape, grosgrain or just make a little strip out of fabric. My standard placement is 10″ from the tip.

Et viola!! That wasn’t so bad, was it?

Download the necktie pattern!

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Way way back in January, Charlotte of the blog seamripped wrote about how her taste in fabric was radically different from her taste in clothing.

I’ve been meaning to write about this ever since. Because I’ve noticed the same thing.

As I said in my comment, I love neutral colors and I wear a lot of warm and muted pinks. I wear tons of black, ivory, and camel.

But if you look at my fabric stash, you’ll find the color best represented there is blue. Why? I have no idea.

I also have lots of lovely colorful and bold prints in my fabric stash, even though I really prefer classic patterns (checks, stripes, dots with the occasional awesome floral).

I think there’s a tendency to go for more attention-getting colors and prints in the fabric store because they aren’t in context. You’re judging them purely on their own aesthetic value, rather than the look of an entire garment. A nice black wool looks sort of boring on the bolt, but can look amazing in the context of a beautiful coat.

What do you think? Are your fabric choices at odds with the colors and prints you actually wear?

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Ask the readers: What’s worth splurging on?

I want to introduce you all to Rachel Marie, our brand new web editor!

Rachel joined us this week at Colette Patterns, and we’re so happy to have her. She’ll be helping out with the blog, which means more time for us to do in depth posts, like tutorials and sew-alongs. She’ll be working directly with Kristen and me right here in the studio.

Rachel is an Oregon native, a rare thing here in Portland it seems! She attended local arts magnet schools and was also a member of a modern dance company before studying philosophy at the University of Oregon. She loves coffee, writing, photography and freshly cut flowers (as do we all here at CPHQ).

You can check out Rachel’s blog to learn a little more about her sewing adventures.

Please join me in giving Rachel a warm welcome!

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Featured Seamstress: Rachel

I’m totally fascinated by this dress, for sale from Vintageous.

At first, I thought this dress was made of two layers of plaid fabrics overlayed on one another, perhaps a chiffon over taffeta. That’s definitely what it looks like.

But actually, this is a plaid taffeta dress with an overlay of marquisette, a light mesh fabric. The mesh is the dark blue chiffon-like fabric, while only the taffeta has the large scale plaid. The layering gives it a really cool effect, don’t you think?

It’s cut on the bias and matched beautifully at the front. I also love the way it plays with directionality. The belt is cut straight along a stripe, and so is the top fold. There’s a lot to admire here.

Images: via Vintageous.

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Just wanted to throw out a quick note and let you guys know that our summer pattern will be launching June 18! I don’t want to reveal too much, but it’s pretty awesome. I briefly considered playing 20 questions with you guys, but I’m too afraid of someone getting too close and having to ruin the surprise.

I will tell you 5 things:

1. This one will be intermediate, though I’d say it’s on the easy side of intermediate. We’ll be doing a sew-along to go with it too.
2. It has buttons (obviously, as you can see from the photo).
3. It’s a classic style that takes a little inspiration from the late 50s and early 60s.
4. It will work for any season.
5. It looks cute with a belt.

That’s all I’m going to say for now. I can’t wait to share more!

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