December 6, 2018

It's here!!!

We are thrilled to present our new FREE pattern for Lee & Pearl mailing list subscribers — Pattern 1038: The Gift Bow Front Dress for 18 Inch American Girl®, 16 Inch A Girl for All Time® and 14 1/2 Inch Wellie Wisher® and similar dolls.

If you are already a Lee & Pearl mailing list subscriber, check your email inbox for our December 6, 2018 newsletter, which contains the information you need to download your FREE copy of this pattern!

If you are not already a subscriber, what are you waiting for...?

CLICK HERE to sign up for the Lee & Pearl mailing list to get your own FREE copy of this lovely new pattern!

While scouting the fashion pages and runway reports for our latest FREE pattern for mailing list subscribers, pattern designer "Pearl" was struck by one of the prettiest trends we've seen in a long time.

You've probably noticed it too: beautiful outfits featuring trims that are built into the garment, and often made out of the same fabrics. Think of all those self-fabric ruffles and gathers, pleats and bows — an organic kind of ornamentation, that allows over-the-top frills while still retaining the elegant restraint of a vintage gown.

Do you recognize this diamond-weave, garnet red silk taffeta from our 2017 Silk Sale? If you were lucky enough to get this fabric before it sold out, and have been hanging on to it, waiting for the perfect project — this might be that project! Doesn't Lea look gorgeous in those shimmering jewel tones?

All those beautiful pleats, ruffles and bows made "Pearl" think of another of her favorite design inspirations — the Japanese craft and design books she has collected for years. Nobody does cleverly cut and structured fabric embellishments like the inventors of origami.

In those design books, there is one dress in particular that Pearl has wanted to re-imagine as doll fashion since she first saw it — an easy-to-sew tunic dress with a draped front panel in the shape of a bow, that merges with pleated and gathered raglan sleeves to give the impression of a flattering, high-waisted bodice, without any actual bodice seams.

Pattern 1038: The Gift Bow Front Dress is Pearl's loving re-interpretation of that cleverly constructed, softly feminine Japanese design.

To further emulate the look of a ribbon bow, Pearl designed nested inverted pleats which hang gracefully from the bow "knot" in front. She also added rows of tailored pleats in back, stitched neatly down from a square neckline to maintain the high-waisted look, while hiding the easy Velcro™ closure.

Best of all, Pearl designed this dress in three perfect sizes, to be made from a single quarter yard or fat quarter of woven fabric.

Make your dress from a single piece of cotton, linen or silk — or mix and match those fun piles of fat quarters to make a two-tone dress with contrasting bow front and sleeves. A dress designed around the use of pretty fabrics should allow you to use a wide variety of pretty fabrics!

Our The Gift Bow Front Dress is rated EASY/INTERMEDIATE for careful pleating and topstitching, and a few hand basting stitches and tacks.

We've made every effort to keep construction as simple as possible. The bow front creates the look of a waist, without the bother of waist seams, while the raglan sleeves are much easier to sew than tricky set-in sleeves.

We've also introduced a design innovation to simplify all those pretty pleats. Typically, inverted pleats are marked on the front of the fabric, which can require extra care on light colors, and can be hard to see on prints. Our designer figured out how to create perfect pleats on the front using only clearly visible marks on the back. We did that math, so you don't have to!

As always, Lee & Pearl's photo-illustrated directions and computer-drafted, guaranteed-to-fit-together pattern pieces make each step as easy as possible.

CLICK HERE to sign up for the Lee & Pearl mailing list and get your own FREE copy of this pattern.

See you next week!

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