French Linen Dress

I have been in France for a year now and have discovered a good selection of Brocantes. On my last trip I stumbled upon this lovely bundle of old floppy linen sheets.

The texture of this old linen is amazing and the more worn it is, the softer it hangs.

Within the bundle there were also some old chemises. They were worn and had darns and patches which only added to their charm. 

I decided to dye them a soft indigo colour and I also dyed some of the sheets and some monogrammed hankies. I thought I could use these extra pieces of cloth to make repairs or alterations to the garments.

One dress had the monogram 'S' so I decided to make it for my friend Saffron.

I started by using one of the hankies to make a new square patch to echo the existing patch on the front.

This was sewn onto the dress.

The dress was quite large and an unflattering shape, so I pinned darts whist on the body to create a new shape

I decided it would work better with long sleeves so I took measurements at the wrist and existing short sleeve circumference. I then created a pattern for a slim sleeve.

I used pieces of old sheet from the same dye bath to create the sleeves.

The dress was very 'A' line and a little too long. My friend had a cotton underdress that was the right length, so, I stitched the outer linen dress to the underdress, pleating gradually all the way round. This created a puffball effect.

This is the finished dress, fantastically modeled by said friend who's name begins with 'S'.........