Yay!! We have a new pattern for you all. And we're super excited about this one...
Based on the wardrobe of Mad Men’s iconic Joan Holloway, the Joan Dress is the latest vintage-inspired pattern to be added to our collection.
The Joan Dress has always been one of Lisa's favourite designs and over the years has made many versions of it for herself. Whilst perfect for the office, Joan is also up for a few drinks after work and even likes to go for a fancy dinner every once in a while. And made up in tartan we think she would make the absolute most perfect Christmas Day dress - don't you? (You can see Lisa's blackwatch tartan number in her Fabric Haul: September vlog by the way!)
So what do we love about this pattern? Well..!
The fitted shape gives the dress a sassy, feminine feel that the real Joan herself would be proud of.
The bodice is fitted with darts at the waist and back shoulder, and features a gently scooped neckline. Stylish ¾ length sleeves and a 60s inspired tie collar give the dress a super elegant feel.
Designed to hit below the knee, the skirt is semi-fitted with darts and sports a kick pleat at the back hem. The whole dress is fully lined, giving you a gorgeously professional-feeling finish.
With plenty of pattern hacking potential, the Joan Dress can be mix and matched with its Mad Men sister dress, Betty. Combining the Betty Dress bodice with the Joan Dress skirt makes for the perfect slinky party dress, whereas adding Betty's circle skirt to Joan's bodice gives you a fun alternative for the office.
The Joan Dress comes in UK sizes 8-20 and is aimed at intermediate dressmakers who have made a few garments before.
Convinced yet? Let's talk fabrics...
Joan works beautifully in a variety of different woven fabrics. We recommend using a medium weight drapey fabric with some structure – you don’t want to use anything too lightweight and fluid. For the cooler months lightweight wools work gorgeously and suiting fabrics are perfect. Crepes such as our Triple Crepe or Rio Crepe would be stunning. For the lining we like to use rayon, a lightweight crepe de chine or acetate. Check our online shop selection for fabrics we've picked specifically for the pattern.
The Joan Dress is available as a printed pattern as well as a downloadable PDF. Both come with with full step-by-step illustrated instructions.
Want a little help? We'll be covering the trickier bits of the construction in the Joan Dress sewalong posts over on the blog, so keep your beady eye out.We hope you love the new Joan Dress pattern as much as we do. Head to the online shop to snap your pattern up now. I mean, gah, how can you resist that tie?? Happy sewing everyone!
