Friday, February 8, 2013

Painted Portrait Dress in linen

Do you love a crumpled sack cool linen smock-dress as much as I do?


This is Anna Maria Horner's beautiful Painted Portrait Dress pattern made in a fabulous washed linen, which is an amazing crossweave of orange, purple and light blue.



The pattern gives a number of options, including sleeves and a pieced yoke. I chose the plain yoke to let this gorgeous fabric shine. The button is an old one from my stash and the button loop, as per instructions, is from perle cotton.

I'm afraid all the pictures make it look particularly crumpled and sack-like... the ones above are after its first wash and iron. I think there's a lesson there to grab it straight out of the washing machine as soon as it finishes spinning, and hang it out before the wrinkles have time to set. Or... embrace the wrinkles. The latter is more likely.

And below, taken earlier at the end of the second day of wear, so crumpled in new and interesting ways. (A few extra unnecessary photos because I thought you might enjoy my little helper.)






The colours uploaded strangely in a couple of the pics. Odd.

So - I love this pattern. It has the Anna Maria Horner trademark of interesting, thoughtful construction, and awesome pockets. What peeves me a bit is the sizing, and I've had this problem with her other patterns too. By my measurements I was at the upper end of a Size L. I was wary so I whipped up a quick muslin. It was way too big. I made a straight size M which is a perfect fit. What's with that? There also seems to be an error in the instructions for applying the bias binding on the armholes. Using a 1-inch bias strip, it says to sew it first right sides together with a 5/8" seam allowance, which would leave only 3/8" for wrapping around, which obviously doesn't work. The hem is bound with bias as well, which is a lovely touch, but even sewing it on at 3/8" as instructed, I had to trim the seam allowances to get it to wrap around properly. Solutions: either use slightly wider bias strips or sew the first seam at 1/4".

***Correction! The incredible Anna Maria herself (eep!) dropped by here to help and pointed out that I missed a cutting instruction under 'sleeveless' which says to cut 1&3/4" bias strips for the armholes. MY BAD! Honestly I went just about cross-eyed looking for something I'd missed in the instructions but clearly I still missed it. Ms Horner, you are even more of a goddess than I previously thought :D

Anyhow, these are minor quibbles really and I would certainly love to make this pattern again.


If you are taller than my 5'3" then you may wish to lengthen the dress a bit.


There's a little bit of hand-sewing, to finish the yoke lining. I find this kind of soothing and prefer to think of it as 'couture' rather than 'tiresome'. Yes, I used more of that Alexander Henry lawn for the lining. How much of that did I buy? Will it ever run out?

Do you love a good crumply sack too?

- Jane x

25 comments:

  1. I do love a crumpled sack, especially in linen! This dress looks lovely on you. Gorgeous fabric!

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  2. This is really beautiful Jane. I have to admit that I love the look of wrinkled linen - it means it is linen! I've seen this dress pattern but honestly didn't think that much of it, but it is actually really flattering on.

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  3. That dress looks great on you. Not sack-y at all!

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  4. My, that is a gorgeous dress and beautiful fabric too. It looks great on you. You make such lovely dresses and whenever I see them on here I alway feel inspired to try making something for myself- I will one day. For now I'll enjoy seeing yours from afar. Cx

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  5. Great dress! I especially love the pockets and pretty fabric.

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  6. Fab!
    And I lurve linen,crumples and all!

    PS Gorgeous boy!

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  7. Oh, I love it! And have to say, love it most in the more crumpled pics. It looks gorgeous on you - and why have I not ever realised this has pockets??

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  8. So much better worn than hanging and I love the big pockets.

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  10. You look gorgeous in that dress, and you did such a beautiful job-

    I want to offer help regarding the bias finish on both the armholes and the hem. This particular style of adding bias has you wrap the bias excess over the edge of the seam allowances and then (as the instructions say) you turn BOTH the seam allowances and the bias down again towards the wrong side of the side panel so that none of the bias is visible from the outside. This essentially means that the bias sort of acts a little bit like a facing, but with the added bonus of the edge of the bias being tucked up underneath the seam allowances for a clean finish. I hope this helps. I know that many bias applications leave the bias visible from the outside, so you need 3x + the width of the seam allowance. This is just a different application that I think has a neater finish and I use it on lots of my patterns because I love how professionally it finishes, and especially love a little contrast print for fun that is just barely visible :) If you need further explanation, I am happy to help.

    And please let me know if you have specific questions regarding sizing as well- but yours looks perfect! Happy sewing, xo, Anna

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  11. Jane, you are cute as can be!!! :-) I love the dress, especially the sweet little gathers on front and back and your choice of lining (hey, that's a good fabric to have a lot of!). And of course your helper.

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  12. I love a crumpled linen sacks - they're the best kind. This dress is lovely. I hadn't heard of this pattern company. Will have to go and sneak a peek or two.

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  13. This is a really interesting yet simple dress. I love it and it seems to suit you perfectly. Nice choice.

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  14. If that's a crumpled sack then sign me up because it looks fantastic on you! I love the cut of that yoke and oh my goodness, that fabric is beautiful! Good call on keeping it simple with this dress with such a gorgeous fabric!

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  15. Ooh, super dress. I think I'm going to make one for me. Could you tell me where i can find the lovely linen you used?

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    1. Hello and thank you :) If you email me (wakoolatinternodedotondotnet) I will send you the details of the fabric!

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    2. Jane, thank-you for your quick response. I'm having trouble with your e-mail address. is there an "at" somewhere in there? ( i know we have to protect ourselves from those nasty little autobots :)

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    3. oh no probs yes, it's wakool-at-internode-dot-com-dot-au

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  16. It looks amazing, even with 'crumples' so I say embrace the look plus it means less ironing! Bethx (thelinencat)

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  17. PS. loving the additional little helper in the photos :)

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  18. Wow. Your dress is so beautiful! The fabric is gorgeous and the fit is killer, but the gestalt is amazing. Your wrinkled sack dress is the most inspirational garment I've seen all week, maybe all month. Holy cow! Just wonderful!

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    1. Oh thank you! (I had to look up 'gestalt' heheh.)

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Hey, I would really love to know what you think. Go on!

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