Scandinavia meets Japan

Here's a small dose of three of my obsessions: all things Japanese, all things Scandinavian and ... corduroy, of course. Grace doesn't care about those things, but she is crazy about dresses, so we're both satisfied.

Since the last buttons at the bottom don't like to stay buttoned anyway, I could have buttoned just the back yoke, and stitched the dress shut, thus saving myself a lot of buttonholes!

The dress comes in even larger sizes, but I think the poofy side profile makes the style a little babyish for someone much older.

And a close-up of the embroidery. My kids hung over my shoulders while I was stitching this row of little people and were so inspired that they started their own embroidery projects on my fabric scraps. Which means I spent more time on their embroidery than I did on my own (:

The dress pattern came from the Japanese book Natural and Layered Style (it's the dress you see on the cover), which was a gift from Sigrid of Analog Me. I made denim leggings from this book in May.

It was fairly simple to make up with just the pictorial step-by-step instructions. The skirt is gathered quite a bit, and the bodice is lined with self fabric. The bottoms of the armholes are finished with bias tape.

And where does Scandinavia come into play here? I first saw this fun book, Scandinavian Embroidery Designs, when Calder & Company showed some designs she had done. I was tickled pink that there was a Japanese book featuring Scandinavian embroidery designs.

So....I emailed Megumi, the purveyor of all things Japanese (Pomadour24 on Etsy), and asked if she'd be able to find this out-of-print book for me. Then I realized that if she did find me a copy, I would have to buy the book. My husband had a lot of fun with that one. "Oh, I think I'll call Home Depot and see if they can find a table saw for me, hahaha!" Well, she did find it for me and actually offered it for a very good price.

Sources:

Babywale corduroy

Natural and Layered Style (a Pochee series book, ISBN 4529047091), pattern A1

Scandinavian Embroidery Designs (ISBN 9784834728026)