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Introducing Hazel

Meet Hazel.

This is a seriously fun pattern with a whole lot of possibilities. The inspiration partly came from one of my favorite vintage pieces, a floral summer dress from the late 50s. I loved the flattering shape of the V seams in the bodice, but thought, What if the side panels were cut on the bias? Not only does this make the bodice quite comfortable, it also allows you to play with fabric directionality and get some really fun and beautiful effects.

This version was made in a Nani Iro border print. This fabric is a double gauze and works so beautifully. It’s just incredibly soft and lovely. But you’ll also notice the way the border print hugs the seamlines and neckline. Imagine the different looks you could get with different types of border prints. Maybe scallops along the neckline and hem? Or a more graduated floral pattern?

The skirt is a simple gathered dirndl style, in keeping with the border print.

Hazel can also be made in a striped fabric. Which is exciting to me, because half my closet is stripes and I basically can never get sick of them. The stripes form a V at the waist, making this one of the most flattering ways to wear stripes that you’ll encounter too. This red and white stripe fabric was a simple cotton shirting.

I also have a floral stripe fabric I’m dying to make this pattern with. And do you remember the gorgeous embroidered edge fabric I bought in Buenos Aires? I’ve been saving it for this pattern too. So I’ll be showing you how to make this dress with all those lovely scallop-edged eyelets out there while I’m at it.

And of course, you can also make this dress is a solid, which really shows off the seamlines more than a print will. For this one, we used a lightweight plain weave cotton.

To some up: Hazel is a very, very good excuse to go fabric shopping or get creative with your stash. Oh, and it’s rated good for beginners.


Visit Hazel in the shop
!

Sarai Mitnick

Founder

Sarai started Colette back in 2009. She believes the primary role of a business should be to help people. She loves good books, sewing with wool, her charming cats, working in her garden, and eating salsa.

Comments

melissa

April 10, 2012 #

Love this dress! And the pockets! Can’t wait for summer.

Hazel

April 10, 2012 #

I adore this dress(no, not just because of the name!) I can’t wait to add it to my summer sewing projects!

Hillary

April 10, 2012 #

Oh my goodness you named it Hazel! I love this dress arguably even more than Lily, and Hazel was my grandmother’s name, so can’t but enjoy that. Such a genius use of stripes. I remember spotting this dress in the Argentina montage you posted too without wondering if it was a forthcoming pattern, just admiring such cool use of stripes!

Heather

April 10, 2012 #

Hi Sarai, this is so cute!! Would it be okay to lengthen it considerably? I live in a really windy area, plus I have very white skin so I like longer things to protect me from the sun. I have some pale green and white striped seersucker that would look great in this!!

Sarai

April 10, 2012 #

You can definitely lengthen it a bit. It’s a dirndl skirt, which means it’s basically a rectangle (which makes it work for the stripes and border prints). You wouldn’t want to go *too* long with that style, but you could lengthen a bit. If you wanted it much longer than below-knee length, you’d probably just want to make the skirt wider and increase the amount of gathering to give more room for movement. Hope that makes sense!

Heather

April 11, 2012 #

Thank you Sarai!! I’m thinking about 2 inches below knee length – I tend to take small steps anyway so that should be enough room to walk and will look really cute. Perfect timing, I was starting to regret my purchase of striped fabric!!

Lauren

April 10, 2012 #

Aha! I recently picked up a long yardage of some silky striped fabric and have been looking for a pattern that will let me play around with the stripes & grainlines! Perfect timing with Hazel :)

Pamela Clocherty

April 10, 2012 #

I’m excited! The stripey one is very appealing. I hope to get my mitts on the pattern in the UK very soon.

Pamela Clocherty

April 10, 2012 #

Forget the pattern in the UK thing! You’ve made it available to download!! Thank youuuuuuuuuuu xx

Nicole

April 10, 2012 #

I LOVE this pattern but I’m rather intimidated by how I would do an FBA on this… perhaps a tutorial sometime in the future?

Sarai

April 10, 2012 #

Yes! We’ll at least do a tutorial, likely a sewalong too.

Aleah

April 10, 2012 #

What about a small bust adjustment as part of that too? I must make this in a stripe, it’s just too cute, but I’m, well, much, much smaller on top than the model!

Gillian

April 11, 2012 #

Ooh, and while we are requesting help: Sarai, I’d love to know how ot shorten the bodice without affecting the alignment of the lovely v-shape and bias sides! Thanks!

Jen

April 10, 2012 #

Ooh – I think I have a good bit of seersucker left from my Parfait! And yesterday I was going through my stash and discovered a scalloped-border /embroidered fabric that I’d forgotten about. There should be enough for me to make a dress for myself and a skirt or sundress for my older daughter. Yay!

I’m going to need an FBA for this one, too, so I second Nicole’s request.

Ashley at The Feisty Redhead

April 10, 2012 #

Nice to meet you, Hazel! I think we are going to be great, stripey friends!

Carolyn

April 10, 2012 #

Really love this pattern. I have a few border print fabrics that want to be used up– and the version in stripes looks amazing. Its great how many different, unique looks you can get from this one.

Shannan

April 10, 2012 #

I love this! I want this! I can’t wait for this!

The stripe version is so attractive – i literally cannot wait to sew it up

peanut

April 10, 2012 #

I was so happy to see this pattern in your newletter this morning :)

Yesterday was my birthday and my mum gave me 2.5 m of a cute purple print expressly for making a sundress. I knew just what I wanted it to be – wide straps, square neck, gathered skirt – and was wondering if I had any patterns (especially patterns of the right size) I could cobble together to get what I wanted without it taking ages to work out. This morning I turned on my computer and discovered you’d done all the work for me!

Meigan

April 10, 2012 #

Wow, this dress is stunning! The seams on the front are fantastic. I’d love to make this up a a border print!

Francesca

April 11, 2012 #

Adorable! The new patterns are all gorgeous but this one just does it for me – and for some beautiful black broderie anglaise with borders on both sides that I just acquired from a fabric shop that’s turning into a souvenir shop (so sad…)

I echo the SBA request – I might not need it but if I keep on losing weight I probably will and this one looks a bit more complex than the princess seams on Lily :)

Sarai

April 11, 2012 #

Sure guys! I’d definitely include an SBA along with the FBA. No bust left behind!

Francesca

April 11, 2012 #

LOL thanks!

Justine

April 11, 2012 #

I love these! Over Easter my closest fabric shop had a 40% off sale and I went a little crazy. I got fabrics to make some shorts and dresses, perfect timing! I got the perfect fabrics for Iris and Hazel!

Vanessa Traylor

April 11, 2012 #

WOW!! I am SO excited about trying this dress AND the Iris shorts! They are so fun! The stripey dress is to die for! I’m pretty sure I dreamed about the 3 pairs of Iris shorts I planned to make and one was in an Ikat fabric…LOL!

Shannon

April 11, 2012 #

This is really cute and I like that the straps are wide. I do hope you continue to design patterns with sleeves, though– one of the big reasons I sew is that sun dresses abound everywhere but it’s a pain to find practical clothes (with sleeves!) that fit, are cute and well made.

Sofia

April 11, 2012 #

I’m fairly new to sewing and cannot wait to make this dress! One thing I don’t understand though is how the digital pattern works, how does it print out? Also how many pages would it be? (I’d have to sneakily print it out at work…!) :)

Sarai

April 11, 2012 #

Digital patterns are tiled onto separate sheets of paper, which you then tape together to form your pattern. These three patterns range from about 20-30 pages, plus instructions (which you may or may not want to print out).

We’re going to add some help info on them soon, so these questions are really helpful… that way we know what info to include. :)

Francesca

April 11, 2012 #

Sofia – I have to do the same, so I know where you’re at :)…. My first PDF pattern was Sarai’s Sorbetto, which is gorgeous – and took away all my fear of PDFs – so easy to put together – try it – you’ll see:)

Kathleen

March 10, 2013 #

Oh goodness! As a beginning (returning) sewist, I swore I’d never again do stripes after the top I just finished. But the striped version of Hazel just called to me. As with other commenters, I’m losing weight but probably still need to execute a FBA so would also appreciate a tutorial. Can’t wait for summer and wonderful new sundresses!