Flannel Belladone Dress

When I visited Marvin in America in autumn of last year I bought some pieces of fabric, for my collection ;) I made a dress from the first piece and – SURPRISE_ I amde a dress from the second piece as well ;) To my defense: I didn’t plan that, it just happened! I Bought the fabric at Joann’s in Raleigh. This was the only fabric store I went to, when I was in the US. Because obviously Walmart does not count!There were other fabric stores in Raleigh, but nothing that intrigued me enough. You might have seen a Joan N’s before, if I’m informed right this a huge chain in the US. I hadn’t and I was overwhelmed by how huge it was. I have never seen a fabric store this huge ever in my life. To be fair, Joann’s isn’t just a fabric store you can buy all kinds of crafty stuff there, but just the fabric department was bigger than anything I have seen in Europe so far. It was so huge that if you wanted to buy fabric you had to draw a number (!!11!). It took 20 minutes until my number was called and then I went to an isle in the middle of the store were 5 shop assistants were cutting fabric simultaneously. And I mean, that was in Raleigh! Raleigh isn’t that big of a city, I imagine that the Joann’s in bigger cities are even bigger!

As already mentioned I was a little overwhelmed and it took me a while until I was able to move again, haha. There was just sooo much fabric to chose from. So in the end I ended up buying only 2 fabrics (of course). One of which I’m showing you here today. It is a flannel, woven with white and navy blue threads and it has little colorful cotton dots on it. I usually wouldn’t have picked a solid fabric like this one but I was so intrigued by the coloful dots! Sadly as it turned out: you cannot see them unless you com very near, but I didn’t realize that when I saw it at the store. I wanted to buy enough to make a shirt from it, however that would have left a rest of 3/4 yards or so, so the vendor asked me if I wanted to buy th rest for half the price and of course I wanted that!

Afterwards I had to wait once again until it was my turn to pay. In the meantime I discovered the autumn edition of the SpinOff magazine, that I bought as well. I really liked it and unfortunately I haven’t seen the magazine or anything like it here in Germany since.When I was home I measured the fabric (because I had no clue how much fabric I had actually bought… imperial measurements… ;)) and I had a little over 2 m. The fabric was 110 cm wide which immediately gave me the idea of making another Belladone dress. I have made it twice from 110 cm wide fabric and both times 2 m were sufficient. I know such things by heart btw :D I like wearing both dresses in winter because of their less flared skirts, their shorter length and their sleevelessness ;) It is easy to wear a cardigan with negative ease over them. So I decided to completely line the dress and while I was at it, omit the hole in the back, because who needs a hole in the back in winter?!

Deer and Doe has added a version without the back hole to the pattern, however my pattern is so old that I had to figure this out by myself. Okay, it wasn’t that hard. Just laid the pattern paces for the back over each other and drew a straight line for the center back and DONE! When I cut the front skirt from lining fabric I did not remember to add the pockets to the pattern piece… you should do that ;)

I once traced the pattern in size 38. I’m in between size 36 and size 38 with Deer and Doe patterns, but I like the dress a little wider :) I also lengthened the dress by my usual amounts the first time I made it. I came to realize though that the waist band could sit a little farther down and the arm openings are a little tight, so I fixed both issues for this version.

While I was cutting into the fabric I realized that it looks a little dull. So I deiced to add some piping to the waistband and pockets. I used left over fabric from the Mona Jacket I made a while ago. I didn’t use thread for the piping and it got a little uneven. But I think once someone is close enough to see the unevenness he/she will also see the colorful dots and immediately forget about the unevenness. So…. problem solved!

I again used the technique described on the BHL blog to completely shell the lining. I didn’t finish the seam allowances in the bodices, and instead sewed both bodices together by hand at the lower waist seam.

I french seamed all the skirt seams and I hemmed the outer fabric by hand, the lining skirt is hemmed by machine ;)

I didn’t take one look into the instructions. But I know them. They’re okay, a little too sparse for my taste.

Of course the dress now looks very harmonic paired with the Mona jacket, that is in its nature, so to say. I wore the Mona Jacket as one wears a cardigan, underneath my winter coat. And it was way too warm :D Wouldn’t have thought that! The dress looks well with a whole bunch of my cardigans. The fabric is so dull that it literally pairs with everything, and I think that might be a plus after all :D

Such a reasonable dress! But still fun, once you come closer ;)

Macht’s gut!

Katharina

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14 thoughts on “Flannel Belladone Dress

  1. Kirsty

    Great dress, and it looks perfect with the moto jacket. I like the piping accent, it really pops against the softer grey of the flannel. I bet it’s cosy, too!

    Reply
  2. Caroline

    I really like the Belladone without the back hole – it sort of reminds of our Dixie DIY Bonnell dresses without the side holes! He he.
    The fabric looks lovely and I really think the piping elevates the dress into something special!

    Reply
  3. Lisa

    Super cute dress and definitely not dull! Love how you used this fabric , adding the piping for details. Perfect!! I think the ‘design’ woven into the fabric is called ‘herringbone’ and this type of fabric is one of my favorites too! So glad you got to experience a Joann Fabric store! And you are right…. it is a national chain store located in many cities all across America. For what it’s worth….. it’s overwhelming to me too!!! And mine is probably not as big as Raleigh’s. :)

    Reply
    1. Katharina Post author

      Thanks Lisa! :) It’s not exactly herringbone, but I don’t find the translation for what it is: Spitzköper. Maybe ‘zick zack twill’? But they are both pretty similar. That’s relieving to hear, that you get overwhelmed too :) Thank you for the kind comment :)

      Reply
  4. Sue

    I so enjoyed reading this post and you made me laugh in several places. Your dress is so lovely and the piping lifts it to another level. A fabulous make.

    Reply
  5. Betsy

    I have been following your blog for a few years now. I love your style, your makes, and your sewing journey. I copied your higher v-neck on the wrap dress you did awhile back and the method worked well. What I wanted to express to you, though, is how much I enjoyed your remarks about your visit to the U.S., especially the part about Walmart and JoAnn Fabrics. It made me look at them with new and less critical eyes. Thanks for the work you do to keep up your blog; it really adds to my inspiration and sewing techniques!

    Reply