Colette Hazel

Following on from my Adelaide success I thought I'd stick with Colette and make a Hazel dress.  I've had the pattern in the stash for a while and it was about time I made one up.

Weirdly (for me anyway) I made a muslin mostly because I was unsure on size.  I'd made Adelaide in a 4 because of the looser waist, but this dress has a more fitted waist so I wasn't sure if I could get away with it.  At the same time I was worried that the bust would be too large in the 6 so I figured I may need to blend between sizes.  My old sheet muslin seemed fine in the 6 though so that's what I went ahead and cut out.

Construction of this dress was very straightforward.  Rather than following the instructions exactly I pinned and sewed and seam finished all the separate bits production line style rather than doing the bodice and then the skirt and then the facing.  I used an invisible zip like the pattern called for and followed the instructions for sewing the facing around the zip which was really quick and looks super neat.  I can't believe I've never done it that way before but I'm definitely a fan!  All in all this dress only took me a few hours and I had another lovely little summer dress for my wardrobe.

The fabric is 100% cotton and is so bright and vibrant, I love it.  It is perhaps a little heavy considering there is gathering involved, but it's fine really except that it does highlight a few fitting issues that really should be there considering I made a flipping muslin!  Essentially the sheet fabric I used for the muslin was nice and soft and kind of moulded into my body but this cotton is much more structured and stands away from my body, mostly under my arms and around the back.  As I'd suspected there is a bit too much room around the boobs and I'd have been better off sizing down around there.  Oh well, I still like it and I'm dying to make one up in a stripe to really show case the seam lines at the front so I'll be having another go at this one very soon I'm sure.