I have a modern dress to share with you today in the spirit of completing my goal for early this year that I share the modern garments I made last year. This is my second Scroop Patterns Henrietta Maria dress.
The first Henrietta Maria I made has a large floral pattern on it that I really like as it’s an unusual scale and subject for me. (Unfortunately, Mr. Q does not appreciate those fabric choice details and I always get an askance look when I wear it–and that’s pretty often once warmer weather sets in.) So partly because I find the Henrietta Maria to be super comfortable as well as classy and also because it’s nice to wear things that the people around you also appreciate, I finally got around to making a second Henrietta Maria last summer!
I happened on a 100% ikat print rayon fabric at Joann Fabrics of all places! (It’s great that they are carrying rayons more frequently than they used to.) This print seemed like an interesting choice for the new dress and I’m quite pleased with the end result. The rayon fabric is super soft and comfy–great for warm weather!
To learn more about what ikat fabric is, check out this awesome terminology post by The Dreamstress (she’s also the proprietress of Scroop Patterns!).
As I mentioned already, I highly recommend the Henrietta Maria by Scroop Patterns! The pleats around the neck and arm openings are unusual, visually interesting, and elegant in any setting. This is a dress that can easily be dressed up or down and made in everything from a solid color to a large print. I’ve considered making it in a warmer fabric for cooler weather as well, but have been stopped by the roadblock that the full sleeves don’t easily fit inside my usual winter coat (I’ve tried–they just get scrunched around my upper arms unless I fish around and pull them down!). For summer, when I don’t need a coat, the Henrietta Maria is great.
This dress was made as part of my #virtualsewingcircle while I was still finding time to sew live last summer. It is sewn in the exact same way as my first Henrietta Maria: mostly by machine with lace to nicely finish the tucked openings, an inner elastic at the waist, and a hand finished hem (there are photos of all of these finishing details in that post about the first dress). I made the hem on this version just a few inches longer than the first version in an effort to make this version more wear-to-work, but nothing else changed.
I really wanted to get photos of this dress before I put it away for the winter and I did manage to sneak these in on the last warm day of September last year, but I’m still hoping for a better background eventually. A black marble waterfall or tropical plants are in my hopes–maybe this year I’ll get one of them!
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 