Washi Dress

I'm pretty late to the Washi Dress party. I've often looked at the pattern and admired all the great Washi dresses out there, but never thought it would suit my body type. All of a sudden the other day after flicking through the Washi dress Flickr group I bought the pattern. and immediately printed it out and made a muslin of the top half. Surprisingly it wasn't too bad. Here is a list of the alterations I made:

• I knew I wanted to make the top longer so I added 2 1/2 inches to the length of the front
• I added a bottom dart on either side
• I also altered the sleeves as they stick straight out and I do not need to make my upper arms look any bigger then they already are. I'll show you how I did it at the bottom of this post
• I added 2 1/2" to the length of the back above the shirring line.
• I used the collar from the expansion pack.
• I adjusted the hem length, as I added length to the top I needed to make it shorter.

Things I still need to alter for a better fit.

• I could still alter the sleeves a little to make it more capped.
• The side darts hit at the wrong spot, they just need moving.

 

This might seem like a long list, but they are all minor changes and I think I nearly have the perfect dress and there are so many variations of this dress you can make.

I used a Japanese cotton I bought at Spotlight recently with deckchairs on it. I had no idea what I would do with it when I bought it, I just knew I needed it. I think the Washi dress is the perfect pattern for it.



To alter the sleeves I cut four lines from the flat side to nearly the shoulder side, but don't cut all the way through.

Fold and overlap a little, I stuck them down with stickytape. I traced a new pattern piece adding a seam allowance at the bottom of the sleeve. As you now have a curved edge at the bottom of the sleeve you can't cut it on the fold so you must cut four sleeves.

Sew each pair together, right sides together. Turn right sides out and press.