Sewing Folkwear 201 Prairie Dress.. Reversible!!!!

Hello, this is a belated blog post about a dress I made LAST YEAR which is forever ago now, but I was always meaning to write about this and for the past month (? it’s more) I have only been sewing swimsuits, so I was in the mood to write a blog about this project.

My friend Sam reached out to me about making a dress as a birthday present for his girlfriend Natalie based on this dress from 45R, a boutique in NY and SF that I had never heard of. It seems to be a Japanese brand. The clothes are simple and also very expensive. The exact dress Natalie wanted is gone now but similar here, and photos:

If I were to write a pattern description, I would say, “Full length muumuu or tent style dress, button-down, gathered under the collar and back yoke, with gathered set-in drop shoulder sleeve with button placket.” Or something. Anyway, I posted on a pattern review forum, adding that I would probably struggle the most with drafting a collar and button down as well as the sleeves. The back yoke and ruching would be easily adapted. Someone quickly linked me to the following pattern from Folkwear: 201 Prairie Dress. Although this pattern isn’t an exact match, I felt like the shape and volume of the dress matched what Natalie wanted: “Ours falls to the ankles in voluminous gathers from a gracefully rounded yoke.  It has long sleeves gathered at the shoulders and into buttoned cuffs.  The ruffled collar is set into a collar band, and the dress has pockets set into both side seams.  The deep front opening typical of this era closes with buttons in the yoke;..” (a little more poetic than my description.. anyway).

As usual I got my fabric from beloved Metro Textiles. I picked a silk/cotton blend floral plaid in navy, Sam told me Natalie would like it and I thought it was pretty. When it arrived I realized it had a navy side and a white side and I didn’t know which one I liked better.. so .. I decided I wanted to try making the dress reversible :)

The side seams were trivial, I did a flat felled seam (bound, sewn down) along the straight side seams; the busy pattern disguises everything, then I gathered along the back and front for the yoke (I admit I did not adapt the front to match the full button down of the original dress, I just followed the pattern for the yoke. I guess I could do it, I just got a little nervous and also didn’t want to sew 20 buttons/buttonholes).

Next inserted yoke and collar as one. The folkwear pattern’s yoke is already fully faced, so it’s actually.. already kind of reversible? My one regret with sewing this is that I didn’t trim down the gathers inside the yoke enough so it felt a little bulky still, but it’s minor.. I put the collar in so that it was reversed from the body and yoke, I honestly can’t remember if I did that on purpose (most likely no) but I think it looks cute and breaks up the dress just a little which I like.

Then I set in the sleeves, I did a lapped seam on these too. and gathered into the button placket, and the dress was basically done! (Aside from hemming, and buttons.) For the buttons on the yoke I did something fun, I put buttonholes on both sides and then sewed 2 shank buttons together to create a kind of cufflink so that it could be buttoned on both sides.

OH! and I left off the pockets. I wasn’t sure immediately how to make those reversible. Thinking about it, you know, it’s just an inseam pocket bag, so it can be pushed to either side, but this dress is made in one fabric, not a lined reversible dress which makes that more trivial (pocket bag remains within lining). I don’t know, I need to see something to believe it. Unfortunately most proponents of reversible dresses with pockets are extremely amateurish and kind of dorky (unlike myself 0:)) so my search for blogs on this went nowhere (i’m sorry if you find this blog and it also does not help you). Info from someone attempting to patent this sophisticated technology alongside a bunch of other reversible stuff here. I could have done a double sided patch pocket. I just didn’t. If you know about reversible pocket bags, let me know. Maybe I’ll practice one later and see if I can prove myself wrong or right. Blah blah Patricia. Anyway:

TADA ! I hemmed it on the navy side, pretty narrow hem but basically unavoidable that one side would have a visible hem and the other would not. and THEN in March, I ran into Natalie at an opening, and she was wearing the dress! I have also been informed that she has taken a nap in this dress, that is also good. It’s very lightweight and nice. I think she looks really cute in it.

Finally, of course, the result of the trade, Sam’s pot Liam and I eat Koronet Pizza:

Thank you Sam, I love it. I love trades, trade offers really encourage me to go out of my way on project, this is a financial system that appeals to me (ancient system, tribal community, divine feminine etc lol). Something about receiving money for something I both put a lot of love and thought into, and also still and forever feel that I am not so good at, feels very mismatched. (ask me about my swimsuit “business”). Anyway, that’s all, a very fun project, a good job well done. Love you. Bye!