I’ve been pretty busy in my sewing room over the last couple of weeks, as well as the skirt I posted about yesterday I’ve also made a dress. I’ve only just managed to get a belt for it so I can show you now…

I love a corduroy dress in winter, I find the warm and comfortable. I’ve a two or three lengths in my stash so I decided to make a Terra dress by Vivian Shao Cheng. I’ve used the pattern before to make a summer dress, but as the pattern says it’s also suitable for linens I decided it would be OK with a fine needlecord. I used one which is a beautiful wine colour. This is my summer version I made in 2024 with Bella sneaking in the photo at the back…

The Terra dress is lovely, it’s very full with deep cuffs on the sleeves and lots of buttons down the front. I think corduroy shrinks a little over time with washing, so I added an inch to the sleeve length and a few inches to the skirt. I like using a co-ordinating cotton for collar facings, it just adds a little interest to a dress, I found a fine batik print in my stash which I’ve had for years, the fine print matched the wine colour perfectly and I thought the lighter background would be OK.

The dress goes together very easily, it’s well designed and the instructions are good. The only thing I added were pockets – I do like a dress with pockets! There’s a poem about women’s pockets by Sharon Owen, I love it…

Someone clever once said
Women were not allowed pockets
In case they carried leaflets
To spread sedition
Which means unrest
To you & me
A grandiose word
For commonsense
Fairness
Kindness
Equality
So ladies, start sewing
Dangerous coats
Made of pockets & sedition

…so I always add pockets!

The dress is very button greedy! I managed to find a perfect match colour-wise in Duttons for Buttons, I used 24 including the three on each cuff! I have an automatic button hole foot on my machine but I still approach buttons with trepidation as there’s usually at least one where it has a strop. To my amazement my machine did all 24 buttonholes perfectly! I just had to stitch them all on.

Having made the dress I felt the fabric I’d used for the collar wasn’t right, the light background made it stand out too much. I did think about washing the dress to see if the colour ran a bit but instead I decided to use my silk paints! I mixed some paint with plum, magenta and red, thinned it a bit and painted the collar and the cuff opening. These silk paints are permanent once they’re ironed and I think it looks much better.

I was thinking of finding either a black or a dark navy belt but I popped in a little shop in Otley and found a leather belt that matches perfectly. I might just trim the end off so it’s not quite so long. I think next time I make this dress I might down size a bit, as it is pretty roomy, especially if it is a fabric that won’t shrink!

All ready for winter!