Hanon Workshop Kit - Frill Dress
I love the Blythe clothes by Hanon Satomi (Satomi Fujii). Satomi-san also makes these fantastic and easy-to-use workshop kits.
I think the kits are a great concept for many reasons. We get to learn how to make a Hanon Satomi outfit by ourselves, get to keep the patterns and instructions, and can use them again to make others, in the same colours or different colours, with the same fabrics or different fabrics. It's an item that keeps on giving.
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| Hanon Satomi Workshop Kits - Frill Dress and Maxi Dress |
Last year, I bought 2 of her workshop kits from her etsy page. And I (only) recently completed a Hanon Satomi frill dress in ecru using one of those workshop kits.
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| Pattern cut-outs |
The fabric was very soft, so I didn't have an easy time tracing the pattern. I'm not in the habit of using tracing paper or a tracing wheel. Instead, I tend to use a water soluble tracing pen or, sometimes, tracing pencil. (I know some sewing websites have advised against that, and recommend using tracing paper and tracing wheel instead.)
I currently do most of my sewing by hand. I confess that I prefer stitching by hand because I feel I have better control, especially when working with soft, slippery, flimsy or delicate fabrics.
Preference aside, I sew by hand mainly because I don't have a proper sewing machine. The one I have is a small portable sewing machine that can only straight-stitch.
Oh, and lace. I prefer to hand-stitch lace components. So, even if I used a sewing machine for the frill dress, I would've still hand-stitched the lace components, namely the front and the collar.
Preference aside, I sew by hand mainly because I don't have a proper sewing machine. The one I have is a small portable sewing machine that can only straight-stitch.
Oh, and lace. I prefer to hand-stitch lace components. So, even if I used a sewing machine for the frill dress, I would've still hand-stitched the lace components, namely the front and the collar.
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| Working on the frills. |
In hindsight, I should've used the sewing machine for the frills. Stitching the hem and working on the gathers were a pain to do by hand....
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| Oops - was supposed to sew on the sleeves before the lace collar. |
And of course, the biggest downside to having a straight-stitch-only sewing machine is that I have to finish the cut edges by hand too. The fabric in the workshop kit frayed quite easily, so I blanket-stitched all the edges.
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| Seed bead buttons |
I'm already thinking of what other fabrics I can use this pattern on!
The finished dress looks very pretty! There is something so satisfying about handstitching :)
ReplyDeleteHi Fairyfish, thank you! Indeed, there IS something satisfying about handstitching, especially when the stitches and everything turn out neat and nice. :)
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWhat a darling dress :)
I'm in the process of sewing a Hanon Kit but I'm finding it difficult to accurately trace the seam lines.
I understand how to trace the outside of the pattern, but I'm not sure how to trace the seam lines.
How did you use a tracing pen to mark the seam lines?
~Kat
Hi Kat,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment and your question. Apologies for my late response. I actually make 2 copies of the dress pattern, one for the seam lines and the other for the cutting line. When transferring to fabric, I first trace the pattern for the cutting line. After that, I align the pattern for the seamline over and trace that. For more complicated patterns, I transfer the pattern using carbon paper and a tracing wheel. Hope this answers your question and is of help to you. :)