A few years ago, I received an amazing present: a stunning Dior handbag with a modernised Toile de Jouy pattern. I would never have thought I would get my hands on the exact matching fabric but I eventually did – and here it is, sewn as a couture V9327 dress, in a perfect matched outfit!

Toile de Jouy and me

Toile de Jouy is characterised by pastoral scenes with 17th century characters depicted in countryside backgrounds. A few years ago Dior reinterpreted it with animals in jungle backgrounds, making it far more funky. It was initially used for the 2019 Cruise collection but has been reused ever since.

Jouy en Josas, the little village South of Paris where toile de Jouy originated from, holds a very special place in me and my husband’s hearts: this is where we studied and started dating. So this Toile de Jouy handbag was definitely much more than a posh present: it is a very romantic reference to the early days of our relationship.

I initially stumbled upon some fabric from the Dior collection on the Selvedge and Bolts website (one of my best sources of designer fabric). Although it as not within my colour scheme, I (obviously) snapped 3m as soon as I could, sat on it forever not daring touching it, and finally made a V9327 dress of it (which I reviewed here).

Sadly, this fabric did not match my handbag at all. But this wasn’t the end of a story… Two years later Selvedge and Bolts had its blue twin and… here we are!

V9327 pattern review

This is my fourth time sewing this pattern, as I find it particularly appropriate for the winter with its raised collar (I reviewed two of my previous makes here and here).

They are many things I really like about this pattern:

• It fits perfectly, in particular (but not only) at the bust as it offer custom-cup options. I cut my usual size 10 Vogue and C cup (for my UK 8/ FR 36/ US 2 and E cup) and made no changes whatsoever.

• The shape is very flattering: fit-and-flare is my favourite dress shape ever, but having a skirt which is a bit less voluminous makes this dress very elegant in my view. I also really like the cuffs.

• It is quite an easy pattern to sew, with limited pattern pieces and only the back zip as technical difficulty.
• After making two plain-colour dresses with this pattern, I actually realised it was very appropriate for “pattern-heavy” fabric: due to the bodice darts positioning and the midi half-circle skirt, the fabric pattern is really shown in its best light, without being cut or put at a weird angle.

Working on a perfect finish

This time, I put of a lot of time trying to achieve a perfect finish.

Firstly, I took great care to pattern match my fabric at the back, where the zip is installed. I rarely bother doing that and I am extremely proud of my achievement here, so much so that even made a Instagram reel of it!

Secondly, I entirely lined the dress with white silk and here are well paid more attention to a neat finish. So instead of sewing both the zip to both fabric together (quick and dirty), I actually only attached it to the main fabric and then end-saw the lining (much longer but much nicer).

And thirdly, I let the dress sit for 48 hours before hemming. It is quite incredible how the fabric moved in so little time- by more than 8cm on the sides!!!I hadn’t done it for my first nearly-Dior dress and deeply regretted it – it took me a year of not wearing it to finally gather the energy to re-hem it all (dress + lining!).

Happy matchy-matchy girl!

This dress is beyond anything I could have hoped for and I am absolutely thrilled at this make. I haven’t yet dared wearing the dress/ bag combination in public but I am sure I’ll manage!

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• Sewing summer dresses in winter: my Resort Collection Part I
• My second stranded colorwork knit: “Into the Wild”