With our recent rebrand, we had a great opportunity to give all our packaging a facelift – you’ll be seeing the new style packaging very soon! Part of that was bringing everything into a consistent template; hard as we tried to be consistent over time, inevitably slight variations creep in by the time you’re hitting the 10th pattern. The other thing we decided to do was refresh some of the photography and samples.

So at a recent photoshoot when we had two of our latest “real women” models (i.e. not professional!) we decided to whip up some new Washington Dresses for new photography. And doesn’t Caroline look amazing?

For this new cover sample, we used a gorgeous striped St John ponte for the top (available here at Mood Fabrics, Emma One Sock also often has it), a  navy stretch cotton twill for the yoke, and denim-color tencel for the skirt (left over from our Lenox dress kits). As the stretch cotton didn’t have quite enough stretch to be the yoke, we used it on the front yoke, and a thick black ponte on the back – much easier to get on and off!

As you can see, combining fabrics with a similar color palette on the Washington gives such a sophisticated result – I’m planning on making myself a version of this dress in my size.

For Molly, we made a more summery version, that looks just like a white t-shirt and ikat skirt, but without any risk of gaping! We used a simple white laguna jersey for the top, a navy ponte for the yoke, and then a beautiful silk-cotton ikat from my deep stash (who on earth knows when or where I bought it…) for the skirt. I think it looks really fresh and casual, but with a stylish twist.

As usual, we had lots of fun on set!

Finally, we also recently shot our model Rachel in this solid tunic-length Washington. It’s super easy to make – simply shorten the skirt wherever you like, and use the same stretch fabric throughout. This sample was made in a soft grey terry, which feels amazing to wear. Just remember that if you’re using a terry with less stretch and recovery than a standard knit (which is pretty normal for a terry), then the neckband construction may not work because it relies on the jersey “snapping back” after it’s eased. So in this case, we simply used bias binding to finish the neckline instead.

I hope you find these new-look Washington Dresses inspiring!