Then Thornberry posted her Yuki dress, and it occurred to me that this is a very similar design, only with a cozy cowl. It's funny, she talked about the pattern being wintery but then make a super colorful summery Yuki.
Then I came across this INCREDIBLE wool fabric at Homespun, just the perfect weight and drape for a dress, cozy soft, and with a very cool irregular plaid/houndstooth pattern. I've sort of been looking forever for just the right fabric, and I can't believe it was in the back corner of my local fabric shop. The Yuki made even more sense with this fabric, as I'm not sure what I would have done with the inset.
A close up of the fabric, showing its tiny houndstooths in the plaid design.
It's been awhile since I tackled a Tessuti pattern. It had all of the usual hallmarks, hand drawn, quirky construction, etc. The taping together went rather quickly, since there are only two main pattern pieces. The pattern pieces fit side by side on my 60 inch fabric, which was a relief, since it made matching the plaid from front to back a breeze.
The pocket construction was the usual Tessuti method, which is very cool and causes the pockets to stay to the front better than a traditional inseam pocket. However the suggested seam finish is serging and I couldn't get my brain around how I would french seam this pocket design, so I had to go with a completely serged interior. Which is totally fine, but I'm spoiled by all of my french seamed and flat felled garments that look as pretty inside as out. I'll get over it, I'm sure.
The armhole finish, however, was both fussy and sort of unsatisfactory. The directions have you turn under the armhole twice and stitch down, then there is this complicated dance to get it all to lay flat with the side seam. They seem to know how fussy this all is, as they suggest basting it first... Well it all sort of worked out fine even though I did not baste, but the finish isn't as smooth as I feel it could be, since a turned over edge just isn't as nice as other methods. It seems to me there is probably a way to do this with bias or a narrow facing, and I'll probably give that a go if I make another Yuki.
The one bit that was fun and unexpected is the way the drawstring hole is formed. I don't know how to describe it, but it is super clever and easy. The drawstring I used is actually a length of rayon seam finish which was the only black finished string-like thing I had on hand. The pattern suggests making a tube and turning it, but I didn't relish doing that with my wool. I might at some point replace this string with something a bit nicer... a turned piece of black linen or even black twill tape would probably be ideal.
Love everything about this make. It's adorable!
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