Corduroy Contemplations: Ottobre Art Teacher Dress and another Esme

It's two years to the month that I made my first Ottobre Art Teacher dress and I can't fathom why it's taken me so long to reprise this super sewing pattern. The dress is a very quick sew and easy and comfortable to wear. It's perfect for the autumn and winter months and I think would work well in heavy linen, flannel and denim as well as corduroy.

This is my third Art Teacher dress (I made a second one in fleece) and I have to say it's pretty perfect in corduroy. The fabric is a Japanese cotton needlecord bought from Worthing's More Sewing last week.

It had been a while since I visited the More Sewing shop and the selection of colourful quality fabrics they now stock is a delight. On my recent visit the small shop was packed with women attending a dressmaking course and I'm sure the convivial atmosphere contributed to my carefree fabric splurge. I also bought some turquoise printed corduroy from which I made another Esme dress.

Spanish Tile Esme Dress

Painter Laura Gunn's latest Valencia fabric collection for Michael Miller Fabrics features this amazing Spanish Tile design alongside other richly printed fabrics in her signature floral motifs.

I bought two and a half metres from Worthing's Eclectic Maker sewing shop – my go-to local destination for colourful, top quality fabrics. The material was almost too good to cut into! I decided to make another simple Esme dress to best show off the print and was mindful to carefully pattern match the patch pockets so as not to break up the tile pattern.

Laura Gunn's designs for Michael Miller are printed onto quilting weight cotton but I think they are ideal for dressmaking too. Last year I made a quilted coat using three different fabrics from her Garden Wall range so can testify to their wash and wearability – essential as I know this fabulous dress is going to get a lot of wear.

A Groovy Kaftan

The joy of sewing new dresses exceeds the routine of photographing and documenting them and so I have a small backlog of 3 new frocks which I shall endeavour to photograph and blog soon. Garments that don't make it to the blog usually still appear on my Dresses Made Pinterest page and often as a snapshot on Instagram, so do check in there if you want to see my latest concoctions.

This dress deserved more than a brief snapshot as I have used a most magnificent fabric! It's an Alexander Henry cotton print called La Strada. The internet tells me it's from their 2008 collection but it has just made its way to C&H fabrics in Chichester. With it I made my first Esme Kaftan - the long version of the Esme Dress and cover star of Lotta Jansdotter's Everyday Style sewing book.

The kaftan speaks loudly for itself. I intended to keep it to wear at a very special (and I think currently top secret) event at Sussex Ukulele Festival in September, but can't wait until then! Instead I shall enjoy wearing it this summer, thus creating another potential dressmaking opportunity for September's event.

Trapeze Tree Dress

Always on the look out for another novelty tree print fabric, this beauty called to me across the floor at Chichester's C&H Fabrics shop. It's a lightweight polycotton, not a fabric I'd usually chose as I've an aversion to the poly, however the print is simply stunning and the price was a steal at £4 a metre.

I modified the Esme dress pattern into a trapeze shape and made a simple sleeveless cotton slip petticoat to wear underneath. I decided to give the dress a rising/falling hem so that the petticoat is visible peeking out underneath.

Trial and error with a contrasting patch pocket resulted in my unpicking a bold first attempt before settling on this camouflaged diagonal pocket, matching the trees as closely as I could.

The dress goes perfectly with my new green tree brooch from Etsy's fab You Make Me Design shop, a present to celebrate my 47th birthday!

A Nod to Matisse Esme Dress

This wonderful printed cotton by Windham Fabrics is from designer Jan Avellana's first fabric collection for the brand. Her print designs in the A Nod To Mod range are inspired by artists including Henri Matisse and Alexander Girard, with graphic cut-out shapes and strong, flat colours.

It would have been a shame to cut up this fabric too much, so Lotta Jansdotter's Everyday Style Esme dress provided a clean shape that would best showcase the pattern. I added two (essential) patch pockets here but carefully matched them so that they are almost invisible.

This clocks up to being my fourth Esme (see my third, a fleece version here) and I have no plans to stop making them just yet!

It's still a little too cold to wear this dress without long-sleeved layering underneath but I know it will come into its own this spring and summer.

Avant Garden Dot Spot Esme Dress

The Dot Spot fabric I've used to make a second Esme dress is part of MoMo's Avant Garden collection for Moda. I bought it in the sale at Worthing's Eclectic Maker fabric shop last Saturday. The repetition of circles on a red background reminds me of Yayoi Kusama's polka dot art (Kusama says polka dots are a way to infinity), and I love the texture of this linen/cotton mix fabric.

The pockets are cut from another fabric in the Avant Garden range left over from making this Tova dress a year ago.

Lotta Jansdotter's Esme works just as well in a heavier weight fabric, and my second version of it fits me as perfectly as the first. The fabric's bold spotted pattern design really comes to life when cut and sewn into three dimensions.

Relentless rain and grey skies of the past few days have made it difficult to get a good enough photograph of the dress, but I can assure you that this Esme is even bolder and brighter in real life!

Esme Dress: Lotta Jansdotter Everyday Style

Lotta Jansdotter's Everyday Style is a perfect place to start a new sewing year. It's packed with inspiration and includes five easy sewing patterns that can be adapted to make wearable every day garments. Jansdotter's designs in this book have been beautifully drafted into sewing patterns with the help of Alexia Abegg of Green Bee Design & Patterns (a new name to me).

I bought the book at a local bookshop and traced out the Esme Dress the same evening. I decided to use a red floral fabric (which days before had been the Christmas tablecloth) to make a trial version of the dress.

Sewing instructions in the book are simple and easy to follow and this was a super-quick dress to make. The enclosed patterns come in 5 sizes from XS to XL printed on traceable pattern sheets, just like the Japanese Sewing Books except here seam allowances are included. I drafted the Esme using S for the shoulders and bust, M at the waist, grading out to L at the hips. I also added 10 cms to the hem to make this a dress, rather than a tunic.

The finished frock fits my shape perfectly with no gaping at the neckline and the dress hangs in a lovely A-line shape. The sleeves deserve a special mention as there is ample room for arm movement meaning I can reach, stretch and cycle comfortably. It is the best fitting tunic pattern I have used yet needing no tweaking or alteration after drafting the pattern. I will be looking out for more Alexia Abegg sewing patterns in future!

To make the dress look less like a Christmas tablecloth I added yellow floral patch pockets and will wear it with a matching Layla Amber painted wooden brooch.