Kokeshi Tea Party

I finished the Oliver + S Tea Party dress last weekend. I bought the pattern from Duckcloth, who are closing down their online store. Their Oliver + S Patterns are 40% off. This only cost $15, which is a bargain for such a well drafted pattern.


I originally purchased this fabric from Spotlight, quite some time ago. I loved it because of the Japanese Kokeshi Dolls and the slubs give the fabric awesome texture. I kind of wish I had bought a co-ordinating print when I got it, but I didn't have any specific plans. I have a feeling there was only black there at the time, which is probably why I never bought it. I have seen red and I think navy as well. I am sure if they had those I would have got some?


So once I decided that this was the fabric I was using for this dress I went off to my local quilt shop to find something to co-ordinate. I really wasn't sure if they would work or not. I really liked the way the red, floral fabric matched the Kokeshi Doll fabric, but wasn't sure about the purple. The purple against the red was a little scary, but there were little hints of purple in the Kokeshi fabric that I wanted to exploit. In the end, I decided to just go with it.


I hadn't really planned what to do about buttons. I saw there was two buttons in the list of items that I would need to complete the dress, but for some reason, I didn't think of them as being important. I envisioned some decorative buttons somewhere, completely forgetting that I would need them for the straps. I don't know what I was thinking? Anyway, I remembered that I had a little pack of self-covered buttons from Pack It In that would do nicely, especially since I had the ideal fabric to use, with tiny motifs that fit the buttons perfectly. I put a bit of interfacing on the back to help reduce the shine-through from the button. I KNOW I have seen this suggested on a blog somewhere, but I can't remember where??? If someone knows, can they please tell me so I can credit it? The blogger may or may not have suggested wadding as well??


I love these little buttons so much, I may need to make some more...


For this project, I used some fabric from my stash as well as some that I purchased.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 176, out = 58, total = +118