The Henry Dress

How excited was I when Erin from Brooklyn Pattern Company asked me to join her blog tour? (I was excited, there was whooping!)  She asked if I would make her new Henry Dress pattern.  Oh yes!  It is the perfect girls dress, retro with the puffed sleeves and square neckline and contemporary with the deep geometric pockets.

Apart from the obvious loveliness of the design, one of the best things about this dress is that there are no zips or buttons YAY! No zip headache for me! It slips straight over the head without a problem. I was a little nervous about the neckline and getting those beautiful straight corners, but the instructions are really straightforward so I actually cracked them without a hitch.  The sleeves look a little tricky too at first glance, but they really weren’t difficult.  The process is really broken down for you.

But the main problem I had was deciding what fabric to choose!  Being a typical Libra and basically unable to make any decisions, I just decided to make three very different dresses.  I always like to upcycle where possible so there are a few goodies in here.

The first dress I made was ‘Lobster Love ‘. How far will my 50’s style lobster dress go?  Well, it’s made it onto the pockets of this lovely dress.  The main fabric is a hard wearing navy pique, a charity shop find, which worked really well with this pattern. It’s quite utilitarian, a bit ‘school dress’ in the navy, but the pockets add that bit of fun. I think this is the final part of the lobster project.  Farewell Lobster fabric, it’s been a blast.

The second dress I made was ‘Summer Morn’.  I bought the patterned fabric in England on my recent visit.  It’s a retro piece originally designed for Heals by Doreen Dyall around 1960.  I think the Henry really lends itself to retro fabric.  The pockets give you the option to add just a bit without it completely taking over. It also means you can use those small delightful pieces in your fabric stash that aren’t big enough for anything else!

I struggled to match this fabric, first thinking a chocolate drill would work but it looked way too retro, then a mint green which looked too light and insipid. I finally decided on a light weight cotton in sage from “A Day in the Country” range from Remnant Warehouse.  It’s a lighter fabric than ‘Lobster Love’ and doesn’t have the weight of fabric, but I think it’s turned out pretty well.

The final dress I made was “Sunshine & Lollypops”. If Willy Wonka was on this blog tour, I think this is the dress he would make.  The main fabric is called ‘Scrumptious’  isn’t that a great name for this fabric? It’s by Moda Fabric from Remnant Warehouse. I love the diagonal candy pink stripe, it flows really beautifully through the dress.

The pocket fabric is Nano Iro’s Pierre Pocho, you may recognise this from the recent bunting project I made.  Oh, I just love this fabric and any excuse to use it. Of course I have totally disregarded any pattern matching, the random spots work best I think. Together these fabrics look truly delicious. It is possibly the girliest dress I have ever made.

If you fancy having a go at the Henry Dress or any other dress from Brooklyn Pattern Company, the lovely Erin is offering all my readers a 20% discount. Woo hoo! Just type in the code: SUMMERFUN15. (The code runs from 12:01 am on July 6 through 11:59 pm on July 15.) Happy sewing!

 

* Gorgeous header image thanks to Louisa Eagleton photography & thanks to Ava for being a champion model x