Organic Cotton Liberty Midi Dress

 

 

“Liberty’s new Organic Tana Lawn fabrics are absolutely exquisite, I fell in love with them instantly and I’m sure you will too! Just as soft, smooth and silky as the normal Tana Lawn but with the added appeal of being friendlier to our planet. Overall the collection is full of soft and sweet colour, all of a generally similar tonal quality. Most excitingly, this means any combination of prints from the collection seems to work together making it endlessly mix and matchable!”

 

 

“Beautiful Australian brand Fillyboo have been releasing dresses using a mix of different pastel fabrics recently. Colour blocking, but in a much quieter way which really appealed to me, mostly when I see colour blocking in garments it is bright, bold fabrics being used. Thinking of the new Organic Tana Lawn and its great mix-and-match qualities, I decided to make a Fillyboo inspired dress out of a group of fabrics rather than just one or two. I could have used a wider range of colours, mixing together blues, pinks and yellows among others, but decided to stick with the overall theme of ‘blues’. Feels like I haven’t worn anything blue in a while and there are just so many sweet blues in the collection so why not! The five Organic Tana Lawn blue prints names I used are Mitsi, Mamie, Donna Leigh, Elizabeth and Claire Aude.

 

A while ago, Alice very kindly let me rummage in her bag of old lace treasures bought back from a market in Italy, which was amazing! I pulled out this wide collar, knowing I’d be able to use it one day. After a few hand sewn repairs and being soaked in a bath of soap nuts it was much whiter, cleaner and fresher looking. Thank you Alice for letting me have it! It worked perfectly for this dress.”

 

 

“The pattern is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster of a pattern really, lots of different bits pulled together, adapted and made up. Luckily it worked out ok! The tiers on the skirt and the ruffles have 1.5x the fabric of the tier above/whatever they are attached to. I would say that 1.5x gathers is the minimum required to give just enough bulk to look nice. As you can see in the planning sketch, 30cm x 4.15m of fabric would have been needed to make the largest bottom tier using 1.5x gathers and I won’t lie that my heart sank at the thought of gathering all of that! Instead, the bottom 4th tier is not actually gathered into the tier above at all, saving on making time and reducing the amount of fabric required. It probably doesn’t look like it however because the smaller ruffles at the hem and between the tiers do use 1.5x gathers, helping to make the bottom tier appear larger. Well, I’m hoping that is the effect, anyway, haha. It basically means that when the skirt is flared it forms more of a bell shape than a triangle. Still, fantastic for spinning! 10/10 would recommend. 

 

I’m so pleased with the final result, it feels just as feminine and fun as the Fillyboo frocks that inspired it- phew! However, I really don’t think it would have been the same if not for the Organic Tana Lawn and their amazing mix and match quality, the pastel blues just work so well together. What is also great about the Organic Tana Lawn is that even though the dress has just over 3m of fabric in it, it remains light and airy to wear. When the long skirt is picked up by a breeze and floats around me I get to live out my best carefree, Cotswold country girl fantasy. Fabric really does make dreams come true!”

 

Thank you so much Laura for sharing your beautiful dress with us.  You are so talented making your own patterns up and this one is so beautifully made.  I can’t wait to see what you make next.