Pattern Review: Bruna Dress in Whimsical Colour Blocked Linen
FS Bruna Dress made with FS Terra, Desert Rose, Marzipan, Agave and Cobalt Midweight Linen
One of the (many many many) things I love about sewing is getting to create and then wear exactly the clothes that I imagine in my head – it kind of feels like getting to play dress up, which was something I love now at 28 just as much as I did when I was 5. One of my favorite movies is Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and for a while, I’ve been imagining a dress I would like to make to wear if I were a character in that movie. Something that is cute and whimsical but also could be worn while on an adventure. And of course, it has to have pockets for carrying cool rocks and snacks. When I saw the new Bruna Pattern I thought “Yes! That’s it!”. I wanted to create a short-shift dress with long sleeves and a collar, somewhat similar to the pink dress with a white collar that Suzy wears in Moonrise Kingdom, but with my own little flare to it.
FS Bruna Dress made with FS Terra, Desert Rose, Marzipan, Agave and Cobalt Midweight Linen
Using the Bruna dress as a base – I made exactly the dress I imagined. I made a few alterations, one of which was creating the curved color blocking for the body of the dress to look like rolling hills and ocean waves. I also shortened the dress a bit and changed the collar to be more of a Peter-pan collar. For the sleeves, I used the long sleeve pattern pieces but shortened them by about 3 inches and added elastic into the sleeve hem so they’d have an ever so slight pouf.
FS Bruna Dress made with FS Terra, Desert Rose, Marzipan, Agave and Cobalt Midweight Linen
This was my very first time doing a partial button placket, which is quite wild to think of since I’ve been sewing for over 20 years but just goes to show that there are always new things to learn! I love how the partial button placket combined with the Peter-pan collar and slight pouf to the sleeves makes this dress feel both more utilitarian/uniform and whimsically childlike. As a very fun juxtaposition. A really cool detail of this pattern is the dart in the sleeve for the elbow – this is something very common in older patterns, particularly sleeves from the 40s – 60s but isn’t something I see that often anymore.
FS Bruna Dress made with FS Terra, Desert Rose, Marzipan, Agave and Cobalt Midweight Linen
Since I want to be able to wear this dress on adventures, dates, to my studio, and everywhere in between, linen was, of course, the way to go. I was thrilled to see that the rusty orange-brown color Terra was back in stock so I used that as the main color for this dress. The colors were inspired by the rosy rocky cliffs of the northern California coast – which I drove by on a recent road trip up north – so in addition to Terra, I used Desert Sand (which is a lovely darker pink color), Marzipan to look like sand and Agave and Cobalt for the ocean. I finished off the dress by adding some hand stitching along the collar and ta-da! I had my Wes Anderson-esque linen adventure dress. I immediately wore it on a hike and I can confidently say it passed the adventure-worthy test.
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Justice McNeil
Justice McNeil Sumser creates colorful, nature-inspired clothing and Soft Art that encourages the wearer or viewer to stay childlike, playful, and imaginative while being in awe of and mindful of the world around us.Leave a comment
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7 Comments
Maggie Stone
I am in love with your dress and your creative spirit. Love the colors you selected…and I especially love, love, love the hand stitching on the collar!
Vicki Lang
Love the idea of the pieced dress. The colors are beautiful and as with nature work together wonderfully.
Angela Benge
Your dress is beautiful, creative, & fun! Thanks for posting it. And I love the Peter Pan collar modification. ???
Patricia Lowry
What a lovely dress! An adventure in itself!!
Danuta Snyder
You definitely accomplished what you envisioned. Love the spirit of this dress!
Cynthia Lachance
I love this dress! You have executed beautiful curves without apparent pulling or distortion, and I see from your bio thumbnail that this is not your first rodeo. A color-blocked top giving a sense of motion is on my short list of things to make; I’m inspired to get to it.
Judith Franks
Love your use of color and free forms to evoke nature!