An Embroidered Lisette Butterick 6567

I've been working away on a project for Fabricville over the past few weeks, one which was a bit derailed by, first, the work I was doing on the local refashioning show I mentioned in my last post, and then secondly, by a terrible cold that has kept me home for a week. But I have persevered! And today was a lovely sunny day so I was able to snap a few pictures of my now finished dress in the evening calm. (and my Fabricville blog post is now live, so you can check it out there too!)

Nope, I will have to move out of the sun!

The project is a new Lisette pattern, Butterick 6567. I liked the potential of this pattern, but wasn't fond of the contrast yoke all on its own. So I chose two denims of similar tone from Fabricville's spring fabrics -- it is the dark wash and medium wash lightweight denim, both of a shirting weight and very soft and pliable to work with.

I pictured my dress made with a lighter yoke, carrying this over to the whole shoulder & cuff pieces as well. And when I saw that distinct yoke, I knew it would be perfect for a touch of embroidery! My first thought was to create a folkloric floral spray, but then I pondered on it -- perhaps with the denim, primary coloured florals would give it too much of a country feel. My husband suggested going with an abstract or geometrical design, and I thought that sounded good! So I looked through a few old books for inspiration, and ended up adapting a pattern from this 1920s era book online at the Antique Pattern Library, Broderies pour Robes. (fabulous little book!)

I drew the outline of the yoke on paper and then used handy circular objects in my sewing room to add the circular motifs: a couple of spools, the middle of a roll of tape, and a small PatternReview tin from the last PR Weekend I went to in Chicago! I scattered the circles onto the pattern and then drew in some wavy lines behind them. I had fun embroidering over a few nights. I used purples and greys from DMC's newest set of colours, and filled in the circles randomly with whichever stitch I felt like using: chain stitch, lazy daisy, stem, french knots, buttonhole and more. I did use my favourite, stem stitch, for the wavy lines and some of the circular outlines. The only repetition is the central, largest circle -- I decided to copy that one on the back neck of the dress to carry through on the design. I rather like the postal air it ended up with!

The dress itself is billed as "easy". I wouldn't call it a beginner pattern, though. It was very time consuming, especially with the odd angle of the front pleat as it attaches to the yoke. It took me three tries and some hand basting to get that on and all lined up correctly. The pockets are a really neat feature and not difficult, but again, not "easy" either. Because there are no closures to worry about it does finish up quite simply which may be where the "easy" comes from.

One thing that makes this pattern difficult to fit is that there isn't an easy way to petite size it. I thought I'd got the sizing right, but after I finished it, I ended up taking a half-inch up at the neckline side of the shoulder seam, tapering out to nothing. That helped get the bustline a little higher and made the dress fit a little better. If you are short like me, pay attention to the length of the pattern in all areas; it was the only sizing issue I had.

I only noticed after taking the photos and looking at them that I'd made a few errors while stitching -- some little gathers to unpick and hand stitch down correctly now -- and the denim really does need to be pressed every time you wear it. I hesitated to really give the yoke a heavy press because of the embroidery, but I can see that it does need one, especially around the outer edges!

But over all, this was an interesting make, and I learned quite a bit while doing it. I'm not sure it's my best silhouette, but I enjoyed the creative touches to this pattern, and it is certainly a light and loosely fitting dress for warm days. This denim is a lovely weight and texture, and I look forward to trying out more embroidered projects.