At long, long last… my Colette Macaron

Oh man, I blogged about this when in it was in progress… a year ago! At that time, it still had sleeves, and I was wondering whether I should rip them off. I was also agonizing over the midriff. It looked weird in the plaid, so I subbed it out for a black shantung. Much better!

I’m smiling like my 5 year old niece.

As you can see, the dress has been finished. It’s been done, and well loved, for almost a year now; I’ve simply finally got a pic of it! The photograph comes courtesy Colette patterns themselves! They snapped the pic at the recent Colette release party at Vancouver’s Spool of Thread sewing lounge, and posted it to their facebook page. Thanks, Colette!

This is the first pic of myself I’ve seen in a good long while, and the first in this dress. And I gotta say, I’m a little concerned about the fit. Maybe it’s not the best angle, but it’s true that I’m squeezing into this just a little. I might have a half inch ease at the waist. There was a little more ease when I first made it – I’m packing an extra ten pounds or so of craft beer and associated food. And I’m suddenly wanting to head down to my building’s gym and work on those arms.

Letting out the seams isn’t an option, I’m afraid; I never muslined this, and cut a size too small. My s.a.’s are already tiny. My invisible zipper isn’t invisible… in order to buy myself some more space.

Body dysmorphia aside, here’s my belated review of the pattern…

This is hands down my favourite dress I’ve made, and I wear it very often. My inspiration was a Versus S11 dress, modeled by Emily Browning in the April 2011 Vogue, that mixed a prominent plaid and small floral together:

Not sure what to add to all of the existing reviews… The pattern is awesome. The sweetheart bodice is super easy to put together, thanks to Colette’s awesome instructions.

My fabrics:

Main fabric: Poly shantung. I try to avoid poly, but you know, sometimes it’s the only thing you can get your print in. That was the case with this dress. In any case, it’s a non-gross poly, and I love that I can wad this dress up, pull it out of a bag, and wear it. Not that I do that, of course…

Contrast 1: Poly crinkle. You know – those crinkle fabrics the Elaine Benes broomstick skirts are made from? One of those. I hand basted stay tape to each seamline to avoid it stretching out during stitching.

Constrast 2 (midriff): Poly shantung. I used a soft satin on the inside of the midriff.

My changes – simply for style – are:

• I took the sleeves off, and I gently gathered the shoulders to bring them in by a half inch or so. Unfortch, it’s hidden by my hair and bag strap. I secured the gathered shoulders with some twill tape.
• I finished the armscye with (hand-made) bias tape.
• I lowered the neckline by a good inch and a half or so.
• I tapered the skirt in ever so slightly towards the hem-by about an inch on each side.
• I added a second contrast fabric for the midriff – the black shantung.

My likes:

• I love the ease of construction. I was definitely a bit daunted by that sweetheart neckline, but it turned out so well.
• The sweetheart neckline is so on trend right now.

What I’d do differently next time:

• Uh, cut a size up. I cut a 6.
• I’d lengthen the bodice. The midriff is definitely sitting above my natural waist.
• My neck facing is a bit problematic. I think that maybe my fusible interfacing shrunk, and it wants to pop up sometimes. I just gotta redo that. Sometime.

Cost: probably $60 or so, including the $20 pattern.