This year marks the fifth aniversary of the Belladone dress!

The Belladone dress pattern was released as part of our very first collection, back in September 2012, and it hasn’t aged a day! Since then we have seen so many great dresses made from this pattern, and your continued love for it makes us so happy 🙂

Photo par Elodie Vvn sur le groupe Facebook Deer&Doe Addicts

The sleek lines of Belladone work with a variety of woven fabrics, and the fabric properties can have a big effect on the finished look. We have selected a few of our favorite makes – let’s take a look at the fabrics they’ve used!

Gabardine

1/ Jolies Bobines – 2/ Made by Gigette – 3/ Mademoiselle Lu

Gabardine is the perfect fabric to feature the structured lines of Belladone. Its stiffness helps define the pleats in the skirt, and gives flare to the hem. It’s the fabric of choice for a retro “Mad Men” look 🙂

Cotton Sateen

1/ Petite Guimauve – 2/ Made by Gigette – 3/ Les Petites Envies de Mag

Cotton sateen has a softer drape, which gives the skirt a more subtle flare. The shiny aspect of the fabric dresses up the garment, which makes it perfect to attend summer events and weddings.

Cotton Chambray and Linen

1/ Telle est une Estelle – 2/ Sparkle, elle crafts – 3/ Little Clary

To make it more casual however, you can sew your Belladone out of cotton chambray or linen. Their weight and drape may vary, but the crinkled appearance of linen and the irregular colors of chambray will dress it down regardless.

Wax Prints

1/ Lola Couture – 2/ New Model Lamé – 3/ EtCaeTeRa

Wax prints are everywhere this summer! There’s nothing like the colored patterns of this african fabric to brighten your day. The finishing of the fabric gives it a stiff drape, which is great to feature the lines of the dress.

Lace

1/ L’attaque du découd-vite – 2/ La Bouille – 3/ Rebecca

For an even fancier Belladone, try lace! Whether it’s all over the dress or just on the upper back portion, lace instantly adds a chic touch, perfect for wedding season. You can either line the lace in a matching color for a textured effect, or leave it as is to play with transparency.

Printed Cotton

1/ Ginger Makes – 2/ PanaChronoDactyloPée – 3/ Jennifer Lauren

From IKEA fabric to quilting cottons, Belladone works with a wide range of plain weave cottons: the perfect canvas to use a pretty or quirky print!

1/ A Stitching Odyssey – 2/ Emilie le Papillon – 3/ Les lubies de Louise

Be careful to pick a fabric with enough weight, though. Shirting cottons, such as the one used by Sew Caroline (picture in header) will work well. For very lightweight fabrics, such as Liberty lawn for instance, you’ll have to do some extra prep work and apply interfacing to the diagonal lines and the waistband so that they don’t stretch over time.

And there are even more fabrics to choose from! Tweed, jacquard, denim… For even more options, check out our tutorials to modify the back of the dress: full back variation (included in the latest edition of the pattern) or heart-shaped cut-out!

Belladone is available in the shop, in printed or PDF format!