Ruby's Wardrobe: Making an embroidered Dressing Gown

For the next item in Ruby’s wardrobe of extraordinarily pretty things, I wanted to make a dressing gown. I’m thinking sort of country house weekend …. you know, the sort of thing you could take to wear whilst staying at some rather grand house in the rolling hills of …. wherever. Well, a girl’s gotta dream! Anyhow, generally, I think a lightweight, easy to pack robe is a useful thing to have and with the PJ’s also in mind to make, I set about planning the project.

I wanted to use some of my gingham fabric….I always want to use gingham for everything, but this fits just fine with the pattern, which is by KwikSew and is no K3644. It is a simple, rather old fashioned pattern really, with the possibility to add contrasting fabric on the cuffs, the pockets and the shawl collar. Exactly what I was looking for to allow some embroidery quirkiness. I chose a woven navy and white gingham for the main part of the dressing gown and Essex linen in Midnight for the contrasting fabric. I thought I would make the pockets first.

What I have learned during this whole process is that it is worth taking the time with dressmaking to add in the extra details which will make it a unique piece. After all, what is the rush? As a proponent of slow fashion, dress making is such a great option. When you read about the haute couture houses of the early 20th century, that is what they were doing really. Making individual pieces that fit but that have a little something extra to make them stand out. I turned to the absolute master of embroidery Yumiko Higuchi of Japan for my inspiration. Her embroidery books are just outstanding. I love the simplicity of just using three colours and a soft, fresh design like this is informal and yet adds some femininity to the navy gingham. The piping makes a lovely little extra detail as well and here I really benefited from having made bags and learned that using fusible tape to seal piping makes an enormous difference to the ease and neatness of it.

As I began to put the dressing gown together, I realised that my fabric choice was probably not the best. It is a lightweight woven cotton and creases easily and frays easily too. French seams helped make it look neat and feel more stable but it clearly wasn’t the best decision to use this fabric. However - dressmaking is all about learning and experimenting so I wasn’t too worried. Putting the piping on the shawl collar was straightforward enough, even if it did feel like I didn’t draw breath while I stitched!

Once this was on though, my confidence started to build a little. Having a mannequin is such a great idea as you get the feel of the drape and style of the garment. I was a bit concerned though because I felt the fabric was so thin. The ‘essex linen’ that I used for the piping seemed like it might provide the answer and add some stability to the piece and I chose to use it for the cuffs and I made a late (but good) decision to embroider them. This slowed my progress somewhat, but oh boy was it worth it. Once I had the sleeves on, the garment started to take shape.

Liking the look of the navy trim, I also decided to add a border on to the hem of the robe and this turned out to be a simple and really effective anchor for the piece. It is a long strip folded width ways and attached with a small cotton lace trim which really adds some prettiness. This took away the need for a hem really and all the scraggy raw edges are sandwiched in between the border.

After adding a linen belt too, it all came together in really a rather gorgeous project of which I am prodigiously proud.

I am really so happy with this project and my enthusiasm for trying new things is flying high. I will definitely make this pattern again - perhaps in some Liberty silk…. wouldn’t that be gorgeous? Meanwhile, I have this to add to my vintage suitcase …. all ready for that Country House weekend.

See you soon with a new Literary Thread. Love Ruby xx