Vintage Butterick B3160 in my own fabric!

I have been after this dreamy vintage pattern for years.

I'd seen some amazing versions on Instagram (most notably made by Buried Diamond, see her instagram here if you don't already follow her! https://www.instagram.com/burieddiamond/) and had been hunting ebay for it regularly, with alerts set up and everything.

Then very kindly Megan - again, you must check out her instagram, she's so inspiring! (https://www.instagram.com/dinigooseandbird/ ) sent me her copy that she no longer wanted.

It's designed to be a nightgown and robe pattern, but they make brilliant day dresses.

The Pattern

I used the robe pattern for this dress. The bodice is made of a front panel with a really neat self facing, back panel and side panels which include grown on sleeves.

The pattern was on the small size for my measurements, so I made a toile.

It actually fitted ok straight off considering, but I chose to lengthen the the bodice (and therefore sleeves) by 2.5cm. I also added a small amount of width to the front bodice so I'd got a bit more ease.

Because of the lengthening of the bodice I opted for 4 buttons on the bodice with closer spacing.

As it's a summery dress I shortened the sleeves a little too.

Fabric

This is a really cool moment for me, as I used fabric I had designed myself and printed with Spoonflower.

I've aspired to be a surface pattern designer for some time now, so taught myself how to do it on Procreate (with some help from Youtube!)

I had made a few designs that I was happy with, so when Spoonflower had an offer on I bit the bullet and ordered 3 yards of their cotton lawn in this print.

I love vintage fabrics but they're difficult to come by. So I thought I'd design some myself!

The cotton lawn base isn't like any I've used previously. It's a little stiff and very densely woven, to the point where I found it difficult to pin and pins left holes in it.

But because it's crisp it gives the sleeves excellent puff and gathers really nicely. It was also really stable so didn't shift about at all.

Next time I'll try the cotton poplin which from my swatches feels a little softer.

I've had an amazing response to sharing this dress on my Instagram, and a few people were interested in buying the fabric. So I've made the design available to purchase!

https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/lindsey_king

I have more designs in the pipeline which will be available soon, watch this space!