Fighting colour with more colour

Like most of you (or at least I gathered this from our short Facebook discussion), I struggled with a concept for the ‘bright’ accessories. I was first thinking of using a neutral for the dress, but didn’t really have anything suitable in my stash and also decided that the dress shouldn’t really take the backseat.  My instinct was to match one of the colours in the accessories, but that would need to be an accurate match, which I thought was tricky with just a photo to go by. Instead, I found this floral stretch cotton sateen in my stash, which reflected the colours of the accessories in a muted, muddy water colour kind of way. I had a little under 2 meters, so just enough for a fitted dress.

I found view E of Vogue 8997 was a great starting point for what I had in mind. I liked the v-neckline front and back and the raised waistline. I did however eliminate the centre seam, because I wanted less interruption of the large floral print.
This is generally an easy dress to make, but I thought joining the skirt to the bodice was a little fiddly thanks to the seam line coming to a point at the centre front. Having pattern pieces for different cup sizes to work with was a revelation for me. Yes, this was my first time using such a pattern… It seems I needed a small FBA all along. I used the pieces for the C-cup, which immediately solved the armhole gaping problem I usually encounter.  I didn’t quite agree with the way the lining was attached and used a different method. I sewed neckline and armholes first, leaving the side and back seams open. This way I was able to pull the back through the shoulders. I then sewed the side seams of fashion fabric and lining as one continuous seam after inserting the back zipper.

      

I love mixing things up a little and rarely make a pattern as it comes out of the envelope. This was no different, I added a flounce by shortening the straight skirt and drafting a three quarter circle ‘skirt’ to cover the length I removed from the skirt. I tried a half circle when I made the muslin, and decided that it wasn’t quite ‘flouncy’ enough, but didn’t think a full circle was warranted. The middle path is perfect, and I doubt I would have had enough fabric for the full circle. The other addition are the ‘sleeve’ bands to get a the cut out shoulder look. These are only hand sewn in and admittedly don’t look very attractive from the inside. This was very much on purpose though, because even if this fashion doesn’t pass as quickly as I think it will, I can see myself getting tired of it eventually, and I want to be able to remove them easily if/when that happens.

Other than that, the dress is lined in a hot pink lining fabric. It’s a nod to the pink in the accessories…

I already love this dress, even though I haven’t had a chance to wear it out yet. It is now getting colder down under, so it may have to wait for an outing until spring.

Again, I didn’t have an opportunity to take pictures outdoors – life got in the way. So please bear with me, and put up with my boring indoor shots for now.