I had the pleasure of being a pattern tester for the Hanami, a new mix and match pdf pattern offered by An of Straightgrain.
You can purchase the Hanami in An's shop.
The Hanami offers many choices:
- top or dress
- without or with slim peter pan collar
- tulip or regular flutter sleeves
- crossed back or invisible zipper back
- dress
- collarless
- regular flutter sleeves
- zippered back
The fabrics:
- Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics, Mod Basics 2, Organic, Poppies Sun. I won 2 yards of this fabric and can you believe that this dress used only one yard of fabric? (so now I have 1 yard remaining for a future sewing project!)
- Bodice lining is 100% cotton voile in white, I decided to do the lining for the flutter sleeves in the main fabric, instead of the lining fabric
I'm so pleased with how this dress turned out. I sewed a size 4Y and the fit is perfect. I only used 1 yard of fabric which is exactly what the chart said was needed.
My favorite things about the pattern:
- Very nice attention to details like understitching so the lining will stay in place
- I learned a new sewing skill: how to stitch a bodice lining to the zipper tape ~ love that! And will definitely use that again in the future
- I like the way the bottom of the invisible zipper is sewn into the skirt/bodice seam
- I did the lining for the flutter sleeves in the main fabric (instead of lining fabric)
- I decided to do French seams for the skirt side seams
- Instead of serging the skirt and bodice seam, I did bias binding on it
- I added a hook and eye closure above the invisible zipper