Today I have something fun to talk about! Â In case you’ve been living under a rock, or you know – have small people occupying some portion of your attention, you know that it’s the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Sara of Made by Sara is hosting this wonderful series to celebrate.  I call Sara a friend of mine even though we haven’t yet met in person.  She was a tester on my very first pattern, and we regularly converse about sewing, life and everything under the sun.
The premise of the series is simple: sew anything inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Â I decided to add an extra level of interpretation and pay homage to Sara’s affinity for Japanese sewing patterns.
I wanted to go with a subtle nod to Alice – color scheme and of course the iconic peter pan collar shown in most versions. Â I used Cotton & Steel lawn for the collar and skirt, and metallic silver on ivory from Cloud 9 Fabrics for the bodice. Â Both bought from Rock, Paper, Scissors; my local quilt shop.
The pattern is from Girls Style Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori.  This is style F with a few slight modifications: I made the skirt shorter by about 4 inches, omitted the ties at the waist, and I put the collar on backwards.
And as much as I love the simple beauty of the instructions in Japanese patterns I went with my own construction. Â I lined the bodice, which eliminated the need for bias bindings on the neckline and armscyes. Â I also used an invisible zipper instead of the standard zip the pattern called for.
Back to the fabric for a minute. Â I’ve lovingly stroked some Cotton & Steel before, but this is my first time sewing with it. Â It was a joy! Â If I didn’t know it wasn’t I would have sworn it was Liberty of London – perfect tight and light lawn. Â The pink flowers at one selvage fit nicely into the wonderland theme – looks like the Queen of Hearts has been at her games; painting the flowers red!
Technically, this is Arden’s size and it will be her dress – at least for a short while. Â Hadley doesn’t get to play model very often, and she seemed a better fit for Alice than Arden.
The series runs through July 19, be sure to check out all the other bloggers participating. Â There’s also a really great giveaway -Â the series introduction post has all the details.
DARLING . . . COOL . . . UNIQUE . . . of course, WONDERFUL! Lovely classic girl’s dress (from a Japanese pattern) sewn in FAB fabrics: silver metallic circular designs for the bodice with a Peter Pan floral collar to match the gathered skirt, aqua blue flowers outlined in darker blue. Photo shoot — FUN– spot on shot with Hadley swirling to see the selvage of pink smaller flowers on one side seam of the skirt. BRAVO on an apt inspiration from ALICE IN WONDERLAND for Sara’s sewing series. Sarah in Minneapolis
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Sarah!
Very cute! love the fabric pairing!
I have always loved that dress and it is on my endless some-day-sewing-list 🙂 Beautiful fabric combinations and I LOVE the photos!
It’s a great classic design. I particularly like the shaping of the collar – it sits really nicely.
What a lovely dress! I bet Hadley can’t wait until this dress is ‘legally’ hers hehe
They do surprisingly well with the whole hand me down arrangement. Arden will announce “this dress is for you now because it doesn’t fit me anymore” and if I let Hadley wear one that’s still in Arden’s closet she thanks Arden for letting her wear her dress!