The Dressmaker: Christmas Dress - Mystic Rose

The original concept and the (uncorrected) pattern. Thérèse Judeana, 2024.

Am I writing this last minute because I made edits to the dress today? Did I get distracted before finishing this post so I could show my best friend all my Christmas presents? (Yes.)

This is actually a dress I sewed last December, and it’s one of my favorites and the most functional of the dresses I’ve made so far. I name all of my dresses, so that people will eventually know which one I’m talking about without my explaining “the red 1980’s-style dress with the rose buttons, etc.,” every time, so this one is “the Mystic Rose.”

I drew up the pattern based on a bright cobalt blue 1980’s dress I thrifted perhaps seven years ago, which is currently my favorite dress to wear. This original, however, is made of what I believe is a rayon challis, though it’s somewhere between the texture of broadcloth and the modern rayon challis I bought recently.

The Mystic Rose’s fabric is, I believe, because I bought it years ago and I had to dig through my chats to find a reference, a crepe suiting. It’s fairly thick and has some stretch to it, so I think of it as more of a knit with crepe texture. It was pretty tricky to sew, and I think this was my first stretch-fabric project. It was frustrating, and yet it’s still my favorite most-actually-worn dress? I don’t know how that works.