Yes, my new shirtdress literally does have bells on it. The gold buttons are mini jingle bells, the type you put on cutesie wootsie Christmas decorations. Whimsical and impractical although many of my sewing/knitting choices may be though, jingle-bells are just kinda… hmmm well the jury’s still out. See, I just had my heart absolutely set on small rounded gold buttons and this was pretty much it. I love the festivity of them and am clearly all set up to do Christmas Day with fabulous, jingly panache, but have fears that the relentlessly cheerful chirpy tingalingalinging will become a tad annoying in the interim, and not just to me but to the long-suffering souls who move in and about in my everyday orbit. So I have not at this stage ruled out carefully injecting a blob of superglue into the opening of each jingle bell, to anchor the ringer thingie to the inside and restore peace and tranquility unto the world.
Glue is on standby and at the ready…
Fabric: a very fine coral floral silk georgette from Fabulous Fabric, the very last on the roll. I bought it using a voucher given to me for my birthday by my dear friends; whom I’ve been meeting every week since our children were in the early school years… They know my strange predilection for self-dressmaking so very well! I also bought some ivory crepe; with which I made the slip to go under this dress, and which I also used for the button placket, the cuffs and the collar stand. Jingle bells were also from Fabulous Fabrics.
I’m so relieved I had the foresight to make a separate slip to wear under this sheer dress, rather than an attached lining… why? because when I go to hang the clothes on the clothesline I’ve found this to happen…
Hmmm, see; the slip, being sleeveless, does not ride up when you lift your arms up over your head, of course. Just yet another reason to keep a healthy collection of nice slips and petticoats handy in the lingerie drawer. I have about four hardworking slips currently in rotation and just lately I’m seriously considering increasing the population, particularly since some of the oldies are getting… well, old. Maybe even double that number wouldn’t be too many. Slips, seems such a quaint and old-fashioned thing, yeah? the kind of ladylike frippery my grandmother loved and would buy for my birthdays etc and that seemed unnecessary and even rather fuddyduddy-ish to my much younger, more foolish self. Now I am wearing them. Am I getting old? Hmmm, no need to answer that!
Pattern: Burda 05/2010;111, a shirtdress pattern I’ve used twice before, a plaid shirtdress and a lace version; with sleeves adapted from another Burda pattern, 05-2010-101. I’ve used this same sleeve pattern also twice before on different, other Burda patterns; my black Pirate shirt and my pale blue silk shirt. This is that same sleeve but cut shorter and with a shorter cuff to compensate for being a shorter sleeve.
I chose to leave off the pockets, and the collar and just have the collar stand, I felt this lends a slightly more feminine look to a shirt, goes better with all that girly pink floral explosion that’s already going on in there.
Construction notes: I went with all French seams throughout of course, silk georgette kinda demands those sorts of standards! being sheer and all high quality and all. Only the armscye seams I overlocked the raw edges to finish. In a shirting cotton or linen I would flat fell the armscye seam like so, but silk georgette just does not lend itself to that level of tailoring.
Collar, button placket and cuff facing were hand fell-stitched to secure them; I wished for no top-stitching to sully that clean-finished, pristine crepe! In my opinion, topstitching makes a shirt look a lot more casual and maybe a little masculine? whereas absence of top-stitching keeps a thing looking polished and, somehow feminine. I know, that’s kinda irrational and I cannot logically explain why I have that masculine/feminine impressions of topstitching, but there it is.
The hem is hand-rolled and stitched, and I did the same technique as I did for my slip, with stay-stitching. I hemmed this before I hemmed the matching slip, to get the right length for both, but it’s taken me this long to finish all the other little details and get out and take photographs of it.
And I also wanted to wait for its first outing to be a day on which I would be meeting all my friends to show it to them, and simultaneously an appropriately weather-ed day, nice enough to wear it! it’s taken a while for those two things to coincide. Today was that day! hurrah!
Details:
Dress; Burda 05-2010-111, Burda 05-2010-101 sleeves, floral silk georgette with ivory crepe detailing, my original review of this pattern here
Slip (under); the Ruby slip, pattern by pattern scissors cloth, ivory crepe, details here
Very chic shirtdress.
Very pretty!
I am a real fan of shirt dresses. I love the floral you have chosen. Yes, I am a slip person as well. They are so much more practical than a lined dress.
Lovely, and very festive with the 'jingle bells'.
really pretty dress.. it's a great basic pattern, loved seeing all 3 different dresses you made with it.. i've made a similar shirtdress few months ago, but am not really happy with it, the rayon fabric i used was so hard to work with, so the dress looks a bit messy.. but, seeing yours, think i should try making a new one, in less annoying fabric 🙂
So pretty! Love how the contrasting collar, front band and cuffs create a nice balance with the floral. I am a slip wearer too, but have yet to make my own. Need to remedy that.
I really like your blog and I just love your dog!
thank you so much, Val! 🙂
Oh, I love your new christmas dress, as you can imagine 😉 It is really interesting how the dresses are looking different although made of the same pattern. The silk print of your new dress is beautiful and all of the finishes so beautiful and feminine! 🙂
A beautiful feminine shirtdress! Gorgeous! The white details are perfect with a high fun-factor in the jingle-bells buttons. Though can understand the stand-by glue. Sienna is so pretty today too. 🙂
so lovely. and a print! a rarity for you. Love the colors and pattern choices. As for slips – I made one last summer in a knit and found it soooo useful. I wonder why slips went out of common usage, they are so handy. And for those of us who sew, we know that we can whip up and unlined dress and then just wear a slip to make it just right.
That fabric is just gorgeous! Such a pretty dress! Slips – they are coming back for me too. As I have a few double gauze dresses I find they really benefit from having a separate slip underneath.
BTW, I think your doggie is a scene stealer! 😉
Seriously lovely. I like the gold with the warm tones of the silk, although jingling would drive me insane! I like your glue solution.
Beautiful photos. I'm glad you gave us a closeup shot of the fabric. When you wear bells you won't be able to effectively stalk your prey anymore. I'd have the glue at hand. Too bad the bells don't have a switch ON/OFF. Heh. I am a fan of slips and I notice that they aren't around much in stores now. A pity.
I love the frivolity of matching the wispy, beautifully feminine silk georgette with the structure of a shirt dress, such a contrast, and it works beautifully.
Wonderful use of that beautiful warm print. I have the same gut reaction on topstitching. (Do hold on the glue, at least for a while–you might enjoy creating a bit of music as you move about.)
thank you Elle! I'm still finding the bells to be fun, and not annoying… yet! 😉
I love this dress. The print is beautiful. And you certainly made me chuckle when I read about your grandmother loving slips. My mother certainly did and I wanted nothing to do with them but I do see the value in them now.
A very pretty dress and those bells/buttons are a lovely idea but the super glue would be out very soon if they were mine.
Lovely dress and very pretty fabric. Super glue would be a must I think. I like slips too but prefer half slips. I have the Ruby pattern so must try making a full slip one day or even turn it into a camisole for wearing with trousers in the winter.
How's the crazy cold weather been your end? In Adelaide, we had our hottest 'low' temperature since 1898 or something like that! Anyway, I don't think slips are a sign of you becoming old. I'm 27 (and still own a slip from years ago) and I wanted to ask you where you got your slip pattern from, of course I then saw your link. I want to make my own something along the lines of this style (modifying ease and length as needed): http://www.bgoodslabel.com/spring-summer-1516/womens-hemp-linen-slip-dress
Oh and you'll now be able to say 'be there with bells on!"
Thanks Sundari, and yes, I can! 😀 The weather here has been up, down, all over the place; we've had 40C and then 21C the following weekend! SO bizarre 🙂
The fabric and the gold contrast is so beautiful. I have a number of sheer fabrics I want to sew up but I know that i'll have to venture into slip territory and I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet lol
Love the drape of that fabric. It looks so simple in the schematic but so elegant on you. Jo x
The dress is a real beauty, and you look properly dressed up for a hot and sunny Christmas in it! I love the jingle bell version and wouldn't dare to put glue into the bells to stop this sweet tinkling.
I hope you enjoy wearing it, it's divine.
Froebelina:
Lovely dress! The fabric looks just great and those bells are a great little detail, I think they were a great idea 🙂
The bells are both adorable and cheeky – nice touch! The fabric is really lovely and makes the dress so soft and feminine. Your pro-slip argument is very convincing! I've got a white silk one that gets a fair bit of use.
I love the jingle bells!!! You come up with the most creative ideas. Such a beautiful fabric, too.
I super like the floral pattern of your dress – it looks so dreamy! Good pattern to use the fabric on! The fabric does not seem too see-through from the photos, though.
Wear all the slips! I do love a slip and find lots of mine in op-shops and I have used a Butterick sleepwear bias cut teddy pattern (which I just lengthened into slip length) to make some. Remember the ubiquitous teddy in the 80s? What were we thinking…….
Your frock is gorgeous, love the pattern.
Beautiful dress, Carolyn! And if you're getting old, I'm getting old, too, since I wear slips under almost all of my dresses. 😉 None as pretty as yours, though.
This is so gorgeous as is everything you make.