One Piece Dress in nani IRO "Fuccra : rakuen カウアイ" (nani IRO 2013)

Completed (but not yet washed/ironed)

Finally completed the one piece dress that'd been in the pipeline last year. In November last year, around the time I completed my first adult-sized garment, the project included making a one piece dress out of the same fabric. Well, I finally completed the said dress last Saturday!

So, as mentioned then, I used Pattern 26 in Takahashi Emiko's Tenuide Tsukuru Sawayakana Otona Fuku¹, a frilled one piece. But I made the dress without the frills. I loathe frills/ruffles. For me, frills/ruffles are only acceptable in children and doll clothing, and selected household furnishings (but not curtains).

Frankly, the silhouette isn't entirely suitable for my body type. It's somewhere between a shift silhouette and A-line silhouette, and is a little loose fitting. The smallest pattern size was actually a little too large. (Had the same issue with the gathered pullover.) Mostly left the original measurements intact, hence the dress turned out rather loose. But I kind of wanted the dress to be loose-fitting, taking into account possible future expansion, sideways.... (Who knows, right?) Nonetheless, I still had to make some slight alterations. Had to take in the shoulders and armhole area by an inch each, to make the armholes smaller. And also shortened the dress length so the hem ended just above my knee. I foresee future such issues when I use this pattern book.

Should also add a comment about the instructions.... Other than the reading Japanese problems (which I also faced when making the pullover).... The instructions are well-illustrated with diagrams, but rather lacking in explanations...as in, well, step-by-step descriptive instructions. But since this is the most basic of one piece dresses, one can get by without much instructions....

The hem, lawn lining, French seams

nani IRO double gauze tends to be a little sheer, so I made a lining with ivory lawn. This was easy. The instructions didn't require french seams, but I did it anyway, for the outer cloth and the lining. Extra work, but worth it, I think.

Back keyhole detail and button-loop closure

Used a shell-pink button for the loop closure. I like the keyhole feature of this dress pattern. The pattern book also had a similar pattern for a blouse with the keyhole detail in front. Maybe I could adapt that into a dress for another nani IRO fabric. Will have to wait and see. Have other project ideas in the pipeline, and am starting to think I've bitten off more than I can chew....

Remnants!

With this dress, my Fuccra : rakuen カウアイ stash is pretty much depleted. But there are enough remnants for a few Blythe outfits!

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1. Full title:「手ぬいで作るさわやかな大人服 (レディブティックシリーズ No. 3564)」高橋 恵美子(著)、ブティック社 (2013/4/22). Romaji: Tenuide Tsukuru Sawayakana Otona Fuku (Redi Butikku Shirizu No. 3564), loosely translates to "Handmade Refreshing Adult Clothing (Lady Boutique Series No. 3564)". Author: Takahashi Emiko. Publisher: Boutique Co. (22 April 2013) (Amazon Jp)