Duro Dress

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Ever since I started taking a deeper look at shwe shwe and the way the reverse of the material was used I was determined to use it in a dress with reverse bodice details. I had an idea in my mind of what type of dress I would like it to be, but not until reading on Erin's Blog Dress a day about her love of the Duro dress did I have a name and some history to put to the image of the dress I had in my head.

Last year when I went shopping for Vauneen for some shwe shwe to make into her lovely family made cot quilt for baby Tau, she also chose a pattern for a dress as I had offered to make her one, and while she paged through the pattern books I choose a pattern for a dress for myself.  It turns out we both chose almost identical patterns, just from different books. 

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The red dress is one I made for the lovely Elke for her birthday. She is my gardening inspiration and so the flower pattern was quite applicable. Sometimes the reverse of the shwe shwe is quite dark and not much of the pattern shows through, but in this the faint white flowers shone through nicely.  I had bought some broad red floral ribbon for something else that seemed perfect for this dress so I added it as a trim instead of the traditional reverse.

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The brown one is the dress I made for myself.  I could get it work the first few times I wore it, but I realise now that the cotton was still a bit stiff. After a few washes it no longer stands straight but flows comfortably and has become one of my favourite summer dresses. I think it will work well for me in Autumn , early winter too, as I am not fond of long sleeves, even in winter and think tights and boots with this dress will work well.

you can see some more gorgeous Duro Dresses here

Sarah from The Needle and Damage done

Modified Duro from  Stacy Sews

Princess of Bob made this gorgeous brown and turquoise one