Trifling with the idea of making another Portfolio dress, I spied Fabric Land's pudding patterned Cake Stand heavy cotton (from their own-brand Hill-Berg range) at £3.99 a metre – it would've been churlish not to buy some to make this dress with.
Novelty print linen-look heavy cottons are a Fabric Land favourite of mine, and while they may be intended for craft use, I find them most suitable for dressmaking. The dress I made from their Berlin Macaroon fabric washes and wears well and still looks as good as the day I made it, as do the twoTicket To Ride dresses. They're a perfect weight to wear layered during the winter and the fabrics feel cool enough for summer too.
The Hill-Berg Cake Stand fabric features images from Mrs Beeton's 1861 Book of Household Managementincluding illustrations of meringues, chocolate cream, blancmange, jelly, trifle, stewed pears and tipsy cake. The fabric is available in three colourways but I liked the blue best.
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| Illustrated puddings from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861 |
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| Fabric Land's Hill-Berg design Cake Stand printed cotton |
Sewing a second Portfolio Dress I decided to try the short turn-up sleeve version this time. The instructions state that you should apply fusible interfacing to the sleeve bands, however, in the orange needle corduroy I used this has made them feel a bit too chunky to turn back, so I'm leaving them down. Next time I will skip the interfacing step. The corduroy is another remnant from my stash.
I think the finished dress is splendid, and the fact that it cost me less than £10 in materials to make is the cherry on the cake!
