Style Maker Fabrics Spring Style Blog Tour: Designer Stitch Willow Kimono

I'm so excited to share the project I made as part of the Style Maker Fabric Spring Style Blog Tour!!

Michelle of Style Maker Fabrics asked me to join in the blog tour and I couldn't say no. She has such great taste in fabrics and I love how she curates them, organizing them into themed collections. Read all about Style Maker Fabric's spring collection here and check out the links to the other bloggers on the tour below... lots of inspiration so far and definitely more to come!

Spring Style Blog Tour Line Up | Style Maker Fabrics

3/20 | 3/21 | 3/22 | 3/23 | 3/24 | 3/25 | 3/26 | 3/27 | 3/28 | 3/29 | 3/30 | 3/31

The fabric I chose for the tour from the spring collection is this amazing bold medallion rayon challis. I was immediately drawn to the large scale art deco-ish print and the modern combination of colors: mustard, navy, coral and a hint of lavender and teal. So dramatic!

The fabric is a great quality - on the thicker/more stable side for a challis, making it easy to work with. The print is quite large and irregular, so I had to play around with the pattern pieces to get them to match up on both sides of the front bodice. If you want to pattern match, I highly recommend getting extra fabric.

I decided this fabric had to be a kimono-type thing. This big, colorful print was just begging to be made into something flowy without a lot of seams to disrupt the gorgeous design. 

After making my sister a kimono-style jacket, I was jonesing for one of my own. I had the Designer Stitch Willow kimono pattern in my stash, so I decided to try it out and compare it to the pattern I made for my sister, Simplicity 1318. 

My measurements put me in a size 6 at the shoulder, graded to 7 at the hip (which is equivalent to a 12/14 in U.S. sizing), which is what I went for. But this kimono is obviously quite loose fitting, so the sizing is pretty fluid and forgiving if you needed to drop down a size to fit your fabric, or if you wanted a closer fit.

I opted for the curved high/low hem. The Willow pattern also comes with a hip-length straight hem and a full length straight hem. The sleeves are cut-on, so this pattern is super simple: 1 back, 2 fronts, 2 neckband pieces. The hem and sleeves are finished with a 5/8" hem rather than bands.

The Willow instructions are great! They provide lots of tips and tricks for sewing slippery fabrics as well as directions for sewing the kimono with french seams, which makes the kimono nice and neat on the inside. The Willow pattern would be a great choice if you are a beginner looking to delve into more slippery, challenging fabrics.

The neck band is comprised of two long rectangles without much shaping. The straight lines make it easy to sew, but it doesn't conform to the back neck quite as well as the curved neckband on the Simplicity 1318 pattern. It's not interfaced, which allows it to be a bit more flowy than the Simplicity 1318 pattern, though.

I'm in love with this jacket... it feels like wearing silk sheets and looks perfectly boho/hippie chic, as I envisioned!

Plus, it goes really well with other items in my handmade wardrobe: my white Cashmerette Springfield top and my skinny-fied Birkin Flares (not blogged, but you can see the flare version here!). 

Note: I received the Designer Stitch Willow Kimono pattern and the rayon challis fabric from Style Maker Fabrics for free, but all opinions are my own.


The lovely Lindsay of Inside the Hem is up next tomorrow for day 6 of the Spring Style Tour... be sure to check out her video!!

Thanks for having me on the tour, Michelle!