Dressing up a dressing gown

Inspired by Mr Givenchy’s relaxed dressing, I have pulled this number out of my pattern stash:

Vogue are right on the money here with “house coat OR evening wrap.”  Being Vogue, producing patterns in the days of many professional seamstresses working from home, they are not compromising on top-notch sewing and luxury details.  So, for a lined coat, even in a dressing gown, there needs to be a back pleat in the lining, which allows ease of movement:

Here’s one from one of my own jackets:

Outer fabrics, particularly wool, are softer than lining, and the pleat lets the lining hang not too loose, not too tight.

Then we come to embellishment.

I love the way “fur and buttons” come together in the heading.  Looking at the pattern I think it might be just what Cruella de Ville had in mind for the 101 Dalmatians.

And, as the last post was looking at a touch of gender neutrality in dressing gowns, here is a man’s pattern:

Always interesting to see the difference in the way an illustrator picks accessories for a man – so we have the swotty glasses in one view, and the swotty book in a second.  My favourite pose, though, is the one at the back with a distinctly macho stance.  So we have Clark Kent and Superman, but in the evening at home, Clark is winning out with the bigger illustrations.