Category Archives: Sateen

When I purchased this sateen, jacquard-woven fabric from Mendel Goldberg a couple of years ago, I wasn’t sure what it would eventually become.  It had a wide repeat to the design (which is something to consider when you know you are facing considerable matching of the design), but it was a lovely 60” wide.  I bought just 2 yards (it was expensive) and hoped I would have enough fabric to finagle something.  

First I thought I would make a midi-skirt to wear with a pretty silk blouse or something.  I even got so far as to make a muslin for a longish skirt, but it just wasn’t going to work.  I didn’t have enough fabric to match the design and create the skirt I wanted.   The next task would be to find a dress pattern which would work.  I kind of viewed this fabric as a good Fall and Spring transition weight, so I wanted sleeves.  And I wanted a pattern which would show off the circle design to its best effect.  One of the patterns in my collection which I have seemed to dwell on frequently is this one:

I like the styling of both the dress and the coat.  I thought I’d take a stab at eyeballing the pattern on my fabric, to see if it might work.  Well, it was going to be a squeaker, but I thought I could manage to get the dress out of the yardage I had – and match all those circles and dots as much as possible. 

One thing I had to consider was the placement of the large dots and the smaller dots on my body.  Working with dots can be a little tricky – you certainly don’t want prominent dots on top of each bust apex, for example, and a row of large dots around the waist might not be all that flattering.  I thought the row of the largest dots would be best as an anchor at the hemline.  That would place the wide band of smaller dots just over the waistline and somewhat below.  This configuration would place one medium size dot over one bust, but I was okay with that since the dot on the other side was off to the side, and therefore not symmetrical.  I also liked the repeat row of largest dots across the upper chest where they were not too obvious.  And – the sleeves followed the line of varying size dots in a pleasing manner, I thought.  It turned out, I had just enough fabric to get things lined up properly – except for the front facing.  No way could I match that to the front of the dress.  

Now, obviously the facing does not show on the right side of the dress.  Still, I like to match across seams if possible.  Which it wasn’t.  I had to give myself permission to have a mismatched facing, and then I moved on.  (I forgot to take a picture of the facing, unfortunately.)  

A word or two about the fabric before I go on.  According to Fairchild’s Dictionary of Fashion, (Third edition, by Charlotte Mankey Calasibetta and Phyllis Tortora, Fairchild Publications, Inc., New York, New York, c2003, page 395) sateen is a “smooth glossy cotton fabric made in the sateen weave with floating crosswise yarns on the right side, giving a lustrous finish.”  This fabric is a combination of cotton sateen, with circles created by a damask weave on a jacquard loom.  It makes for a striking fabric.  And I think the fact it is done in navy blue makes the contrast more definitive.    Christian Dior was a fan of navy blue, calling it “the only one [color] which can ever compete with black, it has all the same qualities.”  (The Little Dictionary of Fashion, Abrams, N.Y., 2007, page 14).  It is a wonderfully versatile color.  

I made a few changes to the pattern.  I cut the neckline a little wider, I shortened the sleeves by a couple of inches, and the big change was I lined the dress in a lovely silk batiste I purchased at Farmhouse Fabrics. (The pattern did not have instructions or pattern pieces for a lining.)   The pleat in the front of the dress was a bit tricky to line, but I figured it out after quite a bit of thought.  By the way, I underlined the dress with silk organza. 

One more thing about the pattern and the dress.  With the pleat in the front of the dress which extends to the hem, it gives the appearance of a coat dress. However, it is not.  Again Fairchild’s gives us a precise definition of a coat dress: “Dress fastened down front from neck to hem, like a coat, in single- or double-breasted style, either belted or unbelted.  A classic since the 1930s.”  ibid., page 84.  Someday I’ll make a coatdress, but this was not it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made this dress to wear on my Paris trip, but alas, I never had the opportunity to do so.  I feel certain it will eventually get its debut, but not in Paris!