Cover Designs #17: The Flower Arrangement

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 The Flower Arrangement by Ella Griffin. It's a story of interwoven characters, centred around Lara, the owner of Blossom & Grow, a flower shop in Dublin. Lara has a heartache; she lost a much wanted baby. And flowers provide some solace to her. 

Then there is a large cast of minor characters -- her brother, various customers and so on, all with their own stories. There is heartache, loss, relationship drama, soul searching, and among it all, beautiful flowers. 

If you like melancholy Irish women's fiction and are looking for a bittersweet read, pick this one up. Readers have mentioned that the ending is a little abrupt so be prepared. But if you want to read about love, loss and all the flowers that accompany such moments, pick this one up. 

And now for the cover dress -- this sedate dress immediately made me think of the Emery Dress by Christine Haynes (now newly rereleased!). The fitted bodice and full skirt are both details that can be found in the Emery Dress. If you have the older version, you'll also find the cute little collar to add on to really capture this cover look. You can even make the belt to go with it. I'm sure if the cover girl turned around we'd see a little bow on that belt. 

photo Christine Haynes

You might be able to find a midnight blue or black fabric perfect for this dress anywhere -- it's a basic. Try this midnight blue silk wool from Mood if you can afford it, it's rather luxurious! 

Silk Wool Blend from Mood

Or for a bluer effect, this Lyocell Linen from Spool & Spindle looks gorgeously drapy and would create a nice full dress. 

Lyocell Linen Slub at Spool & Spindle

Finish it off with a red shoe and vintage bag and you'll be ready to peruse the flower shop of your dreams.

Jimmy Choo sandals from LoveThatBag

Clutch from Unique Vintage

Enjoy some vintage charm along with your summer reading!

Leopard Print Emery Dress

I made my first Emery Dress in late summer last year, but didn't review it here since I was waiting until I'd made another with the appropriate adjustments to compare them. But right now, my queue is so long I'm not sure when I'll get to my second version -- so here is the first.

This first Emery was intended as my muslin, and I made it from an old sheet in my stash -- a twin sheet with just enough to it to cut this out effectively, avoiding the one or two snags in the source material.

I made quite a few adjustments to the bodice, having heard that it fits some people well, and needs a lot of adjusting for others. I was one of the 'others'. In this picture, you can see the main fitting issue I need to fix.

I did my usual alterations -- shortening the bodice, taking an inch wedge out of centre front and increasing the back shoulder darts by 1/4" each. I thought I had it pretty close, but once I finished it and wore for a bit I realized I need to take the bodice up at least another inch. I'm still not sure if that inch needs to come off the waist or whether it should be taken up in the length between the shoulder and bust. I'm leaning toward dividing it between those two areas at the moment.

Nonetheless, my invisible zip went in just fine!

Other than the fitting issues, this was a fairly straightforward pattern that many people have made. There are cutesy additions like a bow belt or a peter pan collar but for myself I am preferring the plain look right now.

Eventually I plan to try again with the added adjustments, but I do have New Look 6262 in my stash which is quite similar in style and it fits me well, so not sure the Emery will become my go to for this style. I'll have to compare and see what I think!