Tilly and the Buttons Megan Dress

Tilly and the Buttons Megan Dress

I’ve had the idea for this dress for a long while and started a pinterest board for it in December (2016), but definitely had the idea a long time before that.

I’d seen a lot of embroidered dresses on pinterest and had started a board for them, too, and I knew I wanted to embroider a dress but wasn’t sure of the design.

Someone had visited Tokyo and posted some pics of the cherry blossom on their facebook page (can’t even remember who it was!) and so the idea started to form.

I found the fabric in a charity shop in Chepstow, in 2015, a pair of brocade, lined, curtains that cost £7.

First, I removed the curtain tape at the top and unpicked the lining from the brocade.

I washed and ironed the brocade – there is a label that states dry clean only but this is a cotton so that must be because of the curtain tape. If someone could verify that, I’d be grateful.

So, I have a piece of fabric, and lining, that measures 176cm by 188cm. I, then, starting looking for a dress pattern that was suitable for the piece of fabric

Due to the size of the fabric, I was finding it difficult to get a pattern that would fit. Serendipity stepped in when Tilly and The Buttons e-mailed me about their Etta dress pattern and kits (I posted up a review of the Etta in May-17) and after I’d made it I was looking around her on-line shop when I remembered I had her book – I hadn’t looked in there for years, I think I made the headscarf when I first got the book but hadn’t even looked at it since.

I had a flip through and found Megan – it’s a cute little dress that would fit onto the piece of fabric, including sleeves! Yay! And I probably did a little jig of joy.

I made the dress in a weekend – it’s quick to trace and sew. The only thing about this material is the seams needed particularly careful attention.

It looked a little bit short!

But, on the whole, I was really pleased with how it turned out. I need to decide whether I make a lining, using the curtain lining.

So, the next step was the embroidery design and I am no artist! I sketched out an idea.

Here was the plan…

The left image is the back view. 

A friend of mine is a talented artist and I asked her to sketch it onto the fabric because I wasn’t convinced my skills were up to it and she drew the branches with a standard HB pencil - hmm, I've made better decisions but I washed it after doing all the branches and worked out the HB pencil marks.

I should have more confidence and attempt something like this!

The hand embroidery for the branches is a satin stitch and the blossoms are french knots, so really simple stuff.

Is it finished? Well, it’s made and wearable but I will spend a lot more time on the hand embroidery, but, given how long it will take, if I waited until then this post may never make it onto the blog!

I will definitely make another Megan - I like the style of it. Might may off refashioning curtains for a while, though!