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.

Seamwork Adelaide

Up until recently I will admit that I had no intention of subscribing to Colette's Seamwork magazine.  I wasn't feeling that enthused about the monthly patterns and I didn't really see paying each month for patterns I didn't really want.  Then they changed the subscription so that you get 2 credits each month that you can spend on any of the Seamwork patterns and that seemed like a better deal because there are a few patterns I quite like even if I'm not overwhelmed by the entire back catalogue.  Then they had a sale on the Adelaide dress, which I really like, it was $5 for the dress and only $6 for the monthly subscription and so I was finally sold.  Just to prove I was getting my money's worth I thought I'd go ahead and make Adelaide straight away!

This was truly a very quick and easy project, the most difficult bit of sewing this dress was figuring out the enormous pattern on the fabric.  I've had the fabric for ages just waiting for the right pattern to come along.  The print is very distinctive and very large and I didn't really want to break it up with a waist seam.  Working out how the pattern would meet at the snap placket was a bit of a headache for me, my brain just doesn't deal well with things like that but in the end I just made sure that each side was symmetrical and let the join fall where it may.  I think it worked out not perfectly but nicely enough even if it was entirely by chance.

Size wise I went for a 4 for this dress, looking at my measurements I should probably have gone for a 6 but there is a fair bit of ease included at the waistline and I find that too much fabric around the old mum tum is not a pleasing effect on myself.  I know Colette draft for a fuller bust than I have too so I felt reasonably safe sizing down and I think it fits quite nicely.

All in this is a really nice addition to my summer wardrobe and I'll definitely whip up another before too long.  It really did only take a few hours even with faffing around with the print on my fabric.  Next time I'll take a little more care with the placement of the snaps, especially around the bust because that is definitely contribution to the gaping I've got going on around that area.  The snaps are much better placed the further down you get, obviously I got more practiced as I went along so maybe the lesson to be learned is to start setting your snaps from the bottom so that you are a pro by the time you reach those all important ones that are guarding your boobs.

So I'm slowly starting to get a few pieces in my summer wardrobe which is a good job because it's flipping boiling here right now!  Knitting has unfortunately fallen by the wayside as the temperature has risen (yes I see you looming there OAL deadline) but I'm looking forward to getting stuck into more summery sewing over the next few weeks.