Pocket Dress with sleeves – indigo dyed

I got the Nani Iro Sewing Studio book by Naomi Ito in 2020 but didn’t make anything until last month. My challenge was to figure out which design would go with a fabric in my stash. After much pondering, I finally decided to make the Pocket Dress with Elbow Sleeves. I had a cheap double gauze in my stash. This would also get me closer to my goal of sewing 30 yards.

I originally bought the fabric on sale from Metro Textiles back in 2020 to make a mock-up of the Papercut Patterns Array Dress. Instead, I made a mock-up of the Pocket Dress.

The double-gauze fabric is a very light blue and quite boring. I decided that if the dress fit, I could dye it using a Jacquard indigo tie dye kit. It was not easy to work with because it was a bit shifty. Nani Iro double gauze is easier to work with — a much higher quality fabric.

This dress comes in two sizes S/M and L/XL. Small is bust 30-32 1/4″ (76-82 cm) and hip 32 3/4-35 1/2″ (83-90 cm). Extra large is bust 36 1/4-39 1/2″ (92-100 cm) and hips 38 1/2-41 1/4″ (98-105 cm).

Note on sizing

Some of the patterns in the book are sized for S, M, and L sizes but they have a lot of ease. For example, the Short Sleeve Work Dress has a finished bust of 78″/198 cm. So it may appear that the book is not size inclusive but some of the oversized designs may work for fuller figures.

Use the finished garment sizes, not the book’s size chart, to determine whether you can make any of the patterns. If you make a garment with sleeves, measure the seeve pattern piece to make sure you have enough ease there. [For more info on this topic, check out my 2015 blog post about Japanese pattern book sizing.]

Dress before dyeing

Here’s the Pocket Dress with Elbow Sleeves before I dyed it. You can see the shoulder pleat on the right (my left). You topstitch it in place. There are shoulder pleats at the front and back. The deep pleat at the front becomes a pocket by sewing above and below the pocket opening, which you’ll see in later photos.

Pocket Dress construction details

The fabric frays quite a bit so I decided that to add a 5/8″ seam allowance. Then I could make French seams and enclose the raw edges. Yes, this is one of those pattern books without seam allowances. The book calls for 3/8″ (1 cm) but you can make the seam allowance whatever width you’d like.

I serged the facing with black thread because that was the thread on the machine. Plus it wouldn’t look so dark once the dress was dyed.

Double gauze is a loosely woven fabric and not very sturdy. I didn’t think the pockets would be able to handle the stress so I fused strips of fusible tape along the stiching lines for the pocket bottom. You can see that line of stitches on the front. The pleat opens up below the pocket bottom.

See the pocket opening? It’s a pretty shallow pocket.

Hand stitched hems

For the sleeves, instead of folding the hem over twice, I made a facing. I cut a small strip of fabric the length of the sleeve and then folded and topstitched the raw edge. Then I had a nice clean fold to hand stitch in place. The hem should probably be a little bit higher because it’s too close to my elbow. I will fold it over one more time to make it a little shorts.

I hand stitched the hems because I didn’t know if I wanted a visible top stitch after the fabric was dyed. My thread matched the light blue fabric and that poly thread likely wouldn’t take the dye. So I opted to hand stitch all the hems instead of top stitching, which is what the instructions say.

Back pleat detail

At the back, there are two pleats at the center back that overlap and button. It should have two small buttonholes and buttons. I didn’t think the fabric could handle having two buttons and buttonholes. Plus I didn’t think I could do a good job on the buttonholes with this fabric. So I replaced the buttons/buttonholes with two cross stitches. You can’t see the cross stitches but you can see the center back pleat. I used Coats & Clark “specialty button and craft thread.” It’s a heavy duty thread.

Dyeing the Pocket Dress

I knew I wanted to use the small rubberbands that came with my Jacquard indigo tie dye kit. But first, I put on the dress and marked the apex of my bust using safety pins. Then I would avoid any unfortunate placements of the design. 😉

I used about 40 rubber bands, winding them around a small bit of fabric every few inches at random. I just eyeballed the placement. It was fun to improvise.

Then I mixed my dye in a 5-gallon bucket and dipped the fabric in the dye. I left it in the dye bath for a few minutes. Then I squeezed it out and let it sit on some plastic sheeting in the bathtub. You have to let it oxidize for about 20 minutes. That’s when the fabric get dark and turns indigo. I dipped it about three more times. But it was really tedious doing it indoors. It was too cold to do it outside. The dye bath has to be kept at around 68º to 85º F / 20-29º C.

Then I rinsed the fabric to get rid of the excess dye and washed it with Synthrapol, which removes excess dye from fabric. I think that will prevent the dye from “crocking” or rubbing off or bleeding. For more info, check out the post I wrote about washing indigo-dyed fabric.

I hung the fabric on the shower curtain rod to dry. It looked really dark when it was wet.

Dyeing the dress was tedious but easy to do. I do love the results.! Now I have a unique dress that I can wear in public.

More views of the Pocket Dress

Here are a few more photos of the dress, which I am wearing with a vintage hat, black knit skirt I made, and the Drake black leather handwoven bracelet from Zelma Rose. She had a sale in November so I decided to treat myself. (And no, I am not being paid to link to her website. I like supporting indie designers and small businesses.)

Here’s another view of the back. You can see the different hem lengths in this photo.

And here’s a closer look at the bracelet.

My conclusion — if you have boring fabric, dye it!