What better way to (re)start catching up with my backlog of unblogged garments than with one of my favourite ones?
This is a Christine Haynes Emery dress (size 4), made with lovely quilting cotton I bought (heavily discounted!) from Fabric Rehab. I lined the bodice with some lilac cotton I had lying in my stash.
I substituted a simple gathered skirt for the skirt of the pattern. I finished the dress fourteen weeks ago (thanks, Instagram!), so I don’t exactly remember why. Probably good old laziness… I remember thinking “yay, I’ll be able to tear the fabric for the skirt!” and then being disillusioned when realising that the fabric was printed a tiny bit off grain, just enough that it was impossible to keep the rows of houses of the print in line with the torn edges. So I had to cut along said rows of houses instead of perfectly on grain to make sure that the houses wouldn’t hang askew on the finished skirt.
Other than that, this was a pretty straightforward dress to make. However, as with absolutely every single sewing project of mine, there was a moment right near the end when I persuaded myself that it was going to be a dud (it’s a sickness, really!): this time I focused on the imperfect print matching at the back. I didn’t even try keeping whole houses on the skirt for lack of fabric, and weirdly this didn’t bother me at all, but I did try it on the back bodice and the almost but not quite entire houses running along the (hand-picked) zipper annoyed me so much that I couldn’t see anything else anymore. But as usual, after letting things settle for a while and especially after wearing the dress, I can barely see what was upsetting me so much at the time!
Now that I have been wearing the dress for a while, the only thing I might change for a future version would be to maybe shorten the bodice (or just the back bodice?) by a centimetre or two for an even better fit. The waist is also a little bit wider than I would have chosen, but this makes for a more comfortable dress, so I don’t think I would change that after all. I like my high-waisted skirts to have zero ease at the waist because otherwise they don’t stay put and among other things don’t look as nice with cropped tops as a result, but with a dress there’s no risk of the skirt part moving around since it is held in place by the bodice.
I’ll be back very soon to try and show you the rest of what I made… before the end of the year! Yes, I am so hopelessly rigid that, save for ones I would complete at the very end of the year, I just can’t start 2016 without having blogged all of my 2015 makes! Or maybe I am just looking for an incentive to start blogging regularly again? 😉
Très jolie robe et j’adore ces couleurs!
Merci beaucoup, contente que ça te plaise! 🙂
I’m so glad you’re back! 🙂 The house print fabric is adorable, and I love how you’ve coordinated your tights and shoes with your dress. When it comes to being satisfied with a project, I think it’s better to have that moment of doubt right before you finish than right after! (I have that problem a lot.) I understand wanting to catch up on old things before moving on to new – things don’t really feel done until you record them, right?
P.S. Is your sweater a modified Marion? Because I made one in that exact color, which I later realized was an accidental copy of another blogger’s. Something about that sweater begs to be made in green, I think.
Thank you so much! Only eight more projects to blog before the end of 2015!
The sweater is Miette, also a Andi Satterlund pattern (a free one!), and very similar to Marion, you’re right! You can see more pictures here if you want.
Purple is my favorite color so, for me, this outfit is great!!!
Yay, thanks! I loooove purple myself!
Tassadit, this is gorgeous! All that purple perfection and little houses. Aren’t we so tough on ourselves?? No one will ever notice the little “faults” that you do. Enjoy that dress it’s wonderful 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂 It’s really weird how things that wouldn’t bother me at all on store-bought garments (I have for example worn my fair share of stripe disasters!) I would simply not even consider wearable if it was me that made them!
Really adorable dress — and great choice of fabric! I often have doubts while working on a project too.
Thank you so much! And congratulations! 🙂
That fabric is stunning! I love the way you styled the whole outfit together too.Just adorable.
Thank you, that’s so nice of you! 🙂
Very pretty and fun!
Thank you! 🙂
Lovely fabric, and the pictures are great!
Aww, thank you! 🙂
What an adorable Emery!! I’m also very impressed with all your purple coordination. Funnily enough I was so close to buying the same fabric but in the green colourway from Fabric Rehab. We could have matched!
I also find I get overly annoyed about tiny mistakes in sewing projects, things which wouldn’t even be on my radar if it was rtw, but once I’ve had a few days away from the finished project I’m fine with it. I think I just get overly involved at the time!
Thank you! 🙂
I almost bought the green colourway myself, so we could have matched even more!
so sweet! I’m totally biased as purple is my favourite colour, those shoes are fantastic ;o)
Thank you! I don’t like playing favourites with my colours, but I LOVE purple!
This is so nice! Purple looks great on you. And those shoes are completely adorable!
Thank you so much! 🙂
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Love the fabric. So cute with the purple tights and shoes!
Thank you! 🙂
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