
Intro
I’m one 100% sure that I don’t have to introduce you to StraightGrain anymore! An’s creations are stunning. Today as well!
After the Marta’s kick-off, I was surprised myself when I opened An’s guest post. What a beautiful dress she made! It’s perfect! As always. God job An. I’m glad that the first two creations are this stunning…. Thanks An for participating in the Mailbox Surprise series! Next week Trine will present her creation at DoGuincho, so make sure to stay tuned…
StraightGrain
Hi everyone! I’m An from StraightGrain. When I was asked to participate in this series, I didn’t hesitate for a second: I love getting fabric in my mailbox, and receiving a surprise is also something I really like. But as I was waiting for my surprise to arrive, I started to feel a bit nervous. What if I received something I really didn’t like? Would I be forced to spend hours on a garment Norah would never wear? When my package finally arrived, for a minute I thought my worst nightmare had come true. In the envelope, I found a piece of gay pin-up Alexander Henry fabric, as well as some green and red Christmassy thermosses fabric which reminded my of the 1980s. Ouch!
But as I was unfolding the novelty fabrics, I found that they were wrapped around one of the most beautiful fabrics I had ever worked with. Tara from Girl Like the Sea really had me! In the companying letter, she explained that the novelty fabrics were meant as a joke, and that the Cloud 9 Koi voile (designed by the brilliant Rachida Coleman Hale) was the real stuff. Phew! The Alexander Henry fabric really cracked me up, as well as everybody else I showed it to. I really intend to use it one day, though perhaps not for a garment for one of my daughters!
So I ended up using my Hanami-pattern once again, but without the flutter sleeves and the collar. Despite my initial plans to keep thing simple, I couldn’t resist experimenting with a strip of uneven pleating in the front bodice. Norah was superhappy with her dress. She calls it her ‘party dress’ and would wear it everyday if she was allowed to.
Thank you so much for that, Tara, Marte and Marta!
Oh my god !!! The dress is just perfect !! I love what you did with the front of the dress ! Maybe one day you could make a little tutorial for it ? :-)
And I’m also in love with Rachida’s fabrics ! ;-)
Have a good day !
I love, love, love the pleats!
Very impressed…–B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L
Wow. That pleating is amazing. An, it’d be amazing if you sometime could make a tutorial for this!?
Oh, and these novelty fabrics are soo bad that they are almost cool again ;) Please show what you make using them on your blog some time. I’m so curious.
Very cute idea for the dress!! How is it Miss Nora gets cuter and cuter?
Gorgeous, as usual! I’m on a big pleat kick right now – gotta try out some of those! I’m a little sad you didn’t use the Alexander Henry fabric though! x
LOVE the pleating down the middle!
Beautilfully made, as always, An. I love that pleating down the front. And what a hilarious joke with the other fabrics…HA! Well played, Tara!
Love the pleating! I intend to try that one day for sure. It turned out to be a fabulous party dress!
I love this dress- pleating is amazing!!!:) beautiful sewing:)))
Beautiful dress and beautiful fabric. Not surprised Norah loves it! The pleat detail works really well.
Gorgeous. I’m never disappointed by your work!! I love those pleats. And too funny about those other fabrics!
Such a beautiful dress, An. Love those pleats – and the fabric is gorgeous. Concerning the other fabric – rotflmao!!!!
Gorgeous an. love the pleated detail !
Thank you all for these superkind comments :-). I’m working on a tutorial for the pleating technique…
What a great dress, An!
Can’t wait to see your pleats tutorial!
Such a beautiful dress! Love the pleating detail.
Lovely little sophisticated dress!
The pleated detail really makes this dress :) Lovely :)
Stunning as usual!
The pleating detail is absolutely gorgeous and you did a fab job with it!
Of course, now I can’t wait to see what you do with the AH prints! They surely are cute :)
(isn’t Norah getting more gorgeous every time we see her?)
Thank you Ana Sofia :-)
The dress is GORGEOUS, the pleating is FABULOUS. Gotta get me that Hanami-pattern for sures. And PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! tell us how you did that pleating ♥
I LOVE IT!! The pleating detail definitely makes it ‘over the top’……And, I too would love to see/hear more about how you did it!! Norah’s outfit is SO YOU….and YOUR STYLE! Perfect!!
I am going to be very original and say… Love the pleats… OK, not original at all, but seriously, love those pleats!