Ishi Dress: Playing After the Storm

My lovely friend An from Straight-Grain just released an awesome new dress pattern: The Ishi Dress. What a fabulous pattern and I am thrilled to be a part of the tour. I was originally going to make several of them (because that is what makes me crazy), but time got the better of me. However, you will definitely be seeing Ainsley in more of these, especially for back to school.

Because of my procrastination, I had one day left to get photos of Ainsley in her new dress. And then there were massive storms that ripped through our area and I didn’t know how I was going to get the photos I needed. Then, out of nowhere, the sunshine came out, puddles were left, and I figured, why not? Turned out to be a fun evening and was a good reminder to just let them be little.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to use fabrics from Tamara Kate’s new line called “Birds and the Bees. I wanted to use them all, but eventually chose the feather print and the teal stars. Paired with gray cotton couture from Michael Miller, I knew this would be perfect for an Ishi Dress!
*Tamara’s Website
*Fabric Line
*Michael Miller Designer Page

Don’t worry, I got photos of the dress before the splashing, but these were too fun not to share first.

The Ishi Dress features large side pockets, which of course, Ainsley just loves. I think anything with pockets is great, but big pockets make it even better. The really fun part about this dress is how creative the sewist can get with color blocking, pattern mixing and even adding trims like piping or pom poms. (Can you tell what I am planning for my next one?)

There is an invisible zipper in the back of the dress, which I personally love. The pattern does have the option for buttons, but I always go for the zipper, as I find it much easier and faster.

The pattern goes together very easily. The trickiest part are the princess seams on both the front and back panels. You just have to pin, pin, pin and take your time around those curves. Otherwise, everything, including the tutorial is VERY straightforward!