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A Nanette Lepore Embroidered Floral Dress [Butterick 5982]

Hello, friends!

I’m ecstatic to share this beloved dress with you!

red floral 1

This fabric definitely came before anything else and is the star of the show.  It’s a red Nanette Lepore embroidered cotton from Britex Fabrics in San Francisco.  I coveted this fabric for a couple of months, visiting it regularly at the store and lamenting the price tag.  At $50/yd, it’s a bit more than I would pay for a cotton fabric, but as I thought about it for a while and couldn’t find anything similar online, I took the plunge and picked it up during one of Britex’s 20% off sales.  Thankfully, it stuck around in the store waiting for me. 🙂  Kismet.

fabric

As I was attempting to conserve my cash, I purchased the bare minimum amount at 2.5 yards and picked up some high quality perfectly matching ivory linen from the remnant floor to go with my beloved fabric.  My original intention was to make the By Hand London Kim dress with a solid bodice and print skirt.  I muslinned the Kim first before I used my precious fabric and was not totally and completely in love with that pattern, so I went back to the drawing board.  I looked through my patterns and couldn’t come up with the right pattern I was envisioning in my head that also would use the amount of fabric I had.

[source: McCall Pattern Co.]

In the end, I opted to go with my TNT pattern Butterick 5982, which would use all of my fabric.  I was looking forward to this dress with a contrast bodice, but instead my result was one where my fabulous fabric is 100% on display.  I’ve made this pattern five times already, so it’s a quick and easy make for me that fits me well and the best kind of pattern to use for a beloved fabric.

collage

dressform inside

I lined the bodice with my original linen remnant, but left the skirt unlined.  My embroidered fabric is medium weight and doesn’t need lining, but I prefer the bodice of this dress pattern to be lined.  I have made this pattern with an unlined bodice, finishing the neckline and armscyes with bias tape.

red floral 2

This dress is graded up to about a size 26.  This pattern has cup sizes, so it makes it easier to get a better fit.  The only alteration to this dress in addition to lengthening the hem by about an inch, is a swayback adjustment.

back

I wore this dress while my husband and I were in Boston.  We were exploring the North End and walking the Freedom Trail the day I wore this dress.  This was my husbands’ first time to Boston and my second time walking the Freedom Trail.  The last time I visited the North End was in the winter time, so walking it in the summer surrounded by crowds of tourists was a completely different experience.

red floral 3

My ancestors were Massachusetts Bay colonists, arriving in Boston in the early 1600’s.  I found many on my family tree that lived in Boston and Charlestown (as well as surrounding areas), but couldn’t find anything online if their graves existed in Boston.  Aside from tracing branches of my tree, I haven’t done much research on my individual family members, so I don’t know where exactly any of my ancestors actually lived.  I do still feel rooted to the Boston area and imagine that I was walking the same streets that others in my family have walked before.  It’s a amazing feeling and a sense of place, which is something that doesn’t exist where I live in California.

red floral 4

I also got to hang out with Jenny and visit Grey’s Fabrics, meeting the Crafty Foxes while talking sewing and congregating at an Asian fusion restaurant in the South End!  How awesome is that?! 🙂

jenny and i

Happy Sewing!

signature

  • Dress:  Butterick 5982 in red embroidered Nanette Lepore cotton, made by me
  • Shoes:  Birkenstock Gizeh
  • Purse:  Dooney & Bourke
  • Sunglasses:  Tory Burch
  • Earrings:  Luxulite on etsy
  • Bracelet:  My Sun and Stars for You on etsy

Comments

  1. Stunning fabric, and you picked just the right pattern to showcase it. I think you’re going to get a lot of wear out of this, which makes the cost-per-wear very reasonable. (That’s how I rationalise it!)

  2. Congratulations on being chosen for the SOSMII! YAY! I was so happy to see you on the list. You continue to inspire me every time I see one of your garments. And I’m glad you’re representing the Sierra Foothills! Woohoo! This dress is another beauty, btw!

  3. Tanya you look GORGEOUS in red and the fit is perfection! Thank you for inspiring us!

  4. Congratulations on being picked for the SOSM! I’m of course, a little jealous it wasn’t me, but I’m rooting for you. I know you will do an excellent job of it.

    • Thanks, Elizabeth! I wish you had been chosen, too. 🙁 I know how ya feel, as I applied for the last one and didn’t get in. I’m excited, but also a little worried as I have no idea what they’re going to throw out there for the challenges.

  6. Your fabric is soooo pretty. The pattern really does to the fabric justice and you’ve got the fit down pat!

  8. Oh what a beautiful dress and fabric.. So happy you used your tnt pattern..It is perfect.. Happy sewing.

  9. Fabulous dress! I totally hear what you are saying about having a sense of history or sense of place in different locations. I lived in Arizona when i went to grad school and something always felt kind of wrong about how new everything was (with the exception of the native american history of course). The southeast will always feel like home to me since that is where my family is from, but one of the things I love about New Mexico is the history! It sounds like you had a great trip!

    • Thanks, Megan!! The Southwest has such an interesting history. I always enjoy visiting Native and Spanish sites when I’m there. My family has been in CA for about 50 yrs, but that’s rather minute in the scheme of things!

  10. Absolutely beautiful, Tanya! Fabric that pretty is definitely worth the splurge. It’s so rare to find embroidered flowers in that large of a scale, too. I’m so glad that it waited for you, because this red is gorgeous on you! Love it.

    • Thank you, Mary! 🙂 Yes, it is a rare find, isn’t it? I guess that’s why I was drawn to it. I was never a fan of red, but I’ve learned to love it and know that it suits me, so I’ve tried to get more red in my wardrobe.

  11. Gorgeous dress–it looks great on you! I definitely understand what you’re talking about with the “sense of place” thing walking the streets of Boston vs. much of California. My now-husband and I talked about the same thing back when we took a vacation to Boston a number of years ago.

    • Thanks, Michelle! 🙂 Everything is so *new* here on the West Coast that it almost feels foreign traveling back east where buildings and towns are older and have so much more written history. It’s nice to feel rooted somewhere. 🙂

  13. What a beautiful dress. That fabric is terrific and worth every penny. You look truly lovely in red. I am sure that your relatives past approve. How interesting to visit where they lived. Xx

    • Thank you! 🙂 Yes, I think it was a sound investment, plus one that washes and wears well as the embroidery looks like its going to stay in place!

  14. I LOVE you in red! This fabric has me drooling. It’s really beautiful, and you did it complete justice with this dress. 😀

    • Thank you, Michelle! Yes, red is one of *my* colors and one I should truly wear more often. It’s so nice to find such a lovely fabric and I’m happy I didn’t hide it in my stash for too long.

  15. I love that this is all your coveted red embroidered fabric, such a lovely color on you, and the beautiful big motifs in white just lighting everything up! I’m glad to see you immediately make a frock out of fabric you’ve pined for too. Once you stash it as “special” it can take forever to become a garment. I just made a skirt that my daughter remembered being with me when I found the fabric. 8 years ago. Eyeroll.

    • Thank you, Laura! 🙂 I try not to keep fabrics stashed away too long, although I have a beautiful Anna Sui silk chiffon that has been sitting there for about 2 years now…. I think you need to roll that fabric out and sew it!!!

      • Many of my new fabric purchases are rationalized by insisting to myself it be immediately sewn. For the most part this helps from purchases I don’t “need” (hahahahaha) as well as fueling my sewing fire. The other day I went into one of my favorite LFS and only bought thread, sewing machine needles and elastic, which was remarkable.

        • I am also trying not to buy too much fabric, at least until I use up the bulk of what I have. I did buy two lengths of fabric yesterday, but I justified it as I would be sewing each very soon. 🙂 Over half of my fabric stash is cold weather fabrics, so I guess I shouldn’t feel as bad about those as it has not really been cold here for some time.

          • I need to send out some of my stash as gifts I think, because it would make me so happy to know it was finally a garment, even if it wasn’t MY garment.

  17. Another winner–the fabric is absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes you gotta go with your heart–and it was worth it. Imagine what it would cost in a rtw frock–you’ve created a custom original.

    • Thank you, Robin!! Oh, it would be even more in RTW!! I haven’t yet found what Nanette Lepore made with this fabric, but it would be interesting to see!

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Mrs. Hughes: A retro inspired, vintage garment sewing and plus-size dressmaking blog by Tanya Maile Hughes.