This is Burdastyle #118A 10/2012 and the first version of my Anglomania dress. I made this dress using British tweed wool with a herringbone pattern bought from the Hollander Stoffe Market, when it swung by my local town a couple of years ago.

I love using British wool tweeds. The fabrics are so warm to wear and durable. I throw this dress in the washing machine on a wool wash and it’s fine – it just gets softer and more comfortable with each wash! (BTW – not sure if this is recommended. I suggest checking with your retailer before you throw your precious wool fabric in the washing machine!)

I also love the richness of the colours. From afar it appears to be greenish blue, but on closer inspection, it has flecks of many other colours within it!

This fabric is just a little thicker and sturdier than the tartan wool that I used for the Anglomania dress and I think it holds the shape of the side gathers and cowl just a little bit better.

I didn’t line this tweed dress, I chose instead to do a Hong Kong finish on the seams.

I also hand stitched the hem and sleeve hems.

I really like the shape of the dress, especially the gathering at the front, as it hides a multitude of postpartum unruliness! It’s also interesting experimenting with the same dress pattern and using different fabrics to create quite different looking dresses.

Apologies for all of the dress form pics of this, but I’ve been too busy out testing the seaworthiness of this beauty below with my children, to do any dress ‘modeling’!
I have many projects on my sewing table at the moment that I’ll hopefully be sharing soon. First up is some Carnival goodness for my children.
What’s on your sewing table right now?
Have a good weekend!
I used the same pattern to make my dress in ponte knit:
http://mazeliving.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/fairy-tale-for-modern-cinderella/
Both of your dresses are beautiful! I like how you used plaid in the first one. I really wanted to try this dress in wool also, it looks so classy in wool! Sea beauty looks great too. Creativity runs in the family! 🙂
This is gorgeous! I was just looking at some wool tweed yesterday wondering if it would look good as a dress. Now I wish I had bought it!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re now re-considering the tweed, it’s such a versatile fabric!