Yellow Orchidée Dress
How’s your summer been?
July has been somewhat busy for me; I meant to blog a lot more often this summer but it’s already been three weeks since my last post!
But it’s better late than never… I’m very excited to share this dress with you today.
This might just be the prettiest thing I’ve ever made…
Pattern: Orchidée Dress by Deer and Doe
Fabric: Sketched Floral Cotton Lawn - Sunflower/Ivory from Blackbird Fabrics
It all started when I found this beautiful fabric on Blackbird Fabrics’ web site. I loved the yellow and the delicate floral print. When I received it and saw it in person, I knew it had to become a dress with a romantic design.
Pattern modifications
I had always been intrigued by Deer and Doe’s Orchidée Dress, but was never sure if the style would flatter my body figure. (To be honest, I don’t like to use the word “flattering” for this context, but I don’t know better word for it.) I usually stay away from designs that have a lot of gathered fabric on upper body (shoulders, bust, sleeves), and/or designs that might put too much emphasis on chest area.
But I knew that this design would go really well with this fabric, so I was determined to make it work. Luckily, I found a tutorial on how to omit the shoulder gathers on the front bodice, so that was the first modification I made.
The tutorial is in French (I don’t know any French!) but they’ve posted a lot of photos, so I was able to reference those. I suppose you could use Google translation or something to understand further, too.
I’m so happy to have learned this little trick; doing this modification reduced quite bit of volume on the front bodice. Now I get to try other patterns that I’ve hesitated to use before for the same reason.
The second modification I made was to raise up the front neck opening point by 8 cm since the cut was too low for me otherwise.
Further, I had to reduce the amount of volume of the skirt pieces as the skirt pattern was written for wide fabric, or fabric with no print so you can cut them sideways. The fabric I chose has a directional print, so I couldn’t cut the way the pattern suggested. Instead, I took in a bit from the skirt pieces (which would result in less volume).
In addition to these three major modifications, I did a small swayback adjustment and shortened the skirt; both are my usual adjustments for most patterns.
Another thing I made sure was to choose the size that is not too tight in order to avoid too much emphasis on the bust area (and also for more comfort).
For the back bodice, I actually really like that there’s gathering at the waist, to my surprise! It adds more interest to the design and is actually pretty flattering.
Oh also, another minor modification I made was to add this little piece of fabric to the front. I don’t know what something like this is called, but basically it’s there so that what’s underneath wouldn’t peak through from the button opening.
When I posted some teaser photos of this dress on IG, I got some nice comments about the buttons. Indeed, these fabric covered buttons are some of the most beautiful features of this dress!
The pattern suggests to use a cord to create button loops, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. Instead I made the loops from the matching fabric. It was a little tricky to sew the loops, but the tutorial from Deer and Doe helped!
For the buttons, I also used the matching fabric but only used the parts with white print on it. I wanted the buttons to stand out.
The Orchidée is fully lined (except for the sleeves) and has a side zip. The front buttons are there for a design purpose, they can stay closed while putting the dress on and off, thanks to the zipper. (I’m also really happy with how the invisible zipper instalment went with this one.)
I normally don’t line my dresses because I usually wear a slip underneath. But I’m very glad I lined this one as instructed in the pattern. The yellow fabric is lightweight and a bit sheer; by adding another layer of lining, the dress is more opaque and feels more structured.
Since it’s fully lined and has a lot of gathering details, I’d recommend using lightweight fabric with some drape for this pattern. Cotton lawn was a nice choice as it is light and it doesn’t require much of ironing after a wash. I think Liberty Tana lawn would also be beautiful.
As this dress has a lot of gathered details and puffy sleeves, I wouldn't’ recommend using anything that requires a lot of ironing after each wash.
Finally, I added a side pocket! Since the left side has a zipper, I added a pocket to the right only. I think there’s a way to sew a side seam pocket along with a zipper, but this dress had enough challenges already for me (I hadn’t made a fully lined dress with a zipper for a long time and “bridal button” feature was new to me). So I kept simple this time.
Phew, that’s a lot of sewing talk but I think that’s all I wanted to write about this dress!
This dress wasn’t one of those “easy one-day sewing project” type of thing. It had a lot of details that required attention and I wanted to sew it carefully.
They also have how-to videos on YouTube which were so helpful!
I love love love the way this dress turned out!
Initially I wan’t sure about the statement sleeves with a lot of volume. But as it turned out, I like them a lot! Because they’re big, it’s so easy to move my arms and super comfortable to wear. Plus, it’s very breezy for summer.
They may not make my shoulders look dainty but they also don’t make them look too bulky (I hope!)
It’s hard to tell from these pictures but I might have given a little too much ease on the bodice. It’s very comfortable so I’m not complaining nor regretting about it too much, but next time I’d like to polish up the fit even better.
I also think I could shorten the bodice a little or, make the waist band a smidge narrower. I think that would look better on a short person like me.
Even though there are a few things I’d like to improve next time, that doesn’t change how much I love this dress!
I’m very excited that I tried a style which I always hesitated of wearing before! I actually feel pretty in this dress, and that feeling is everything.
I can’t wait to make another Ochidée dress in the future.
Jul 28, 2022
