Cover Designs! #25: In West Mills

 

Cover Designs is a feature in which I try to match up the outfit on a book cover with a dress pattern and sometimes even potential fabric matches as well. Today's book is a tale of community and friendship, set in an African American community in North Carolina, ranging from 1941 to 1987.

As the publisher shares:

Azalea “Knot” Centre is determined to live life as she pleases. Let the people of West Mills say what they will; the neighbors’ gossip won’t keep Knot from what she loves best: cheap moonshine, nineteenth-century literature, and the company of men. And yet, Knot is starting to learn that her freedom comes at a high price... Otis Lee is eager to help. A lifelong fixer, Otis Lee is determined to steer his friends and family away from decisions that will cause them heartache and ridicule.  In West Mills is a magnificent, big-hearted small-town story about family, friendship, storytelling, and the redemptive power of love.

This glorious yellow dress could inspire a couple of different makes, depending on what you focus on. A great fit for this design might be Butterick 6055, a vintage reprint. 

This one is quite similar -- just add a tie to the collar, and leave off the pockets and you've found a very close match. Contrasting collar and sleeve trim are easily added as well. If you're not such a fan of yellow it also looks lovely in other springy shades, like the one on this model. 

However, if you're more intrigued by how the collar appears to be a traditional sailor collar, you might want to go for this Square Sailor Collar dress -- it's by AliceInCosplayLand, so the pattern images are a bit unusual, but the dress is a close match, if you reshape that front collar a bit and use the short sleeve view. 

Of course another option might be to just use a favourite short sleeve V-neck dress that you already have a pattern for, and just add on a removable sailor collar -- there are lots of patterns for these standalone collars in cosplay world, and this one by SandraVee Cosplay has just the right shape to match our cover image here. That way you can also change up the look of your dress and get more wear out of it, too!

To get the right sunny summer tone of this cover image, though, you could go for a clear yellow cotton-linen like this one from Spool of Thread.

Or if you felt like fancying it up a bit, you could even go for a swishy, luxurious 4-ply silk from B&J Fabrics. 

Just pick up some bronzey toned contrast fabric for the collar and trim and you'll be walking off the front of this book!