black Clementine

Oh my gosh, I am so behind!  I’ve made this new dress … and have worn it and why have I not blogged it?  I used to have quite a strict rule about not wearing something until I have written a blog post for it, but things have been so hectic and complicated lately.

So I received a length of beautifully soft, perforated black suedette fabric from Minerva, and also the Clementine dress pattern, the inaugural pattern from a new pattern company, Forget-Me-not patterns and the marriage of these two items bore the most satisfactory fruit; this delightfully witchy-chic and I think rather elegant little number…  I only had 2m of the suedette fabric which was technically not enough to make the dress I wanted to, but somehow I made it work! with some sneaky patching together here and there.  Specifically, the side front and side back panels have a waist seam, and the back panel has a centre back seam.  Not that you’d ever know that wasn’t completely intentional if I hadn’t pointed it out, right?!

The Clementine is a terrifically versatile pattern, a fit and flare style with princess seams, designed for a stretch knit, and includes a top and dress variations, with either a scoop neck or a cowl neck option.  Also three different sleeve lengths marked too.

I went, very predictably I’m afraid, for the dress option, with the cowl neck, and the three quarter sleeve length…

My suedette, being perforated, is actually a little bit “peekaboo” close-up, so I chose to underline my dress completely with some very thin, beige/greyish-ivory knits I had in my stash already.  Two slightly different fabrics, of an annoying length each of which wasn’t really enough on their own to be useful enough for anything much so I was mighty pleased with myself when it occurred to me I had “just enough” of each combined to cut out my underlining!  I clean cut the suedette and the beige knits using my rotary cutter and left them unhemmed, since the fabrics are all non-frayable and quite stable; however I did opt to hem the sleeve hems since these areas are subject to a bit more stretch and strain.  Each of the underlining pieces was cut to be 5cm shorter than its corresponding outer shell piece.  I stitched each seam, before overlocking the raw edges in a second pass.  The pattern is reeeeally economically designed for minimum fabric wastage, with a 6mm seam allowance.  Highly approve of such thriftiness! although it doesn’t leave any wriggle room, should one wish to indulge in a bit of post-cutting size-fudging/alteration, ahem!  fortunately I went with my recommended size and feel like the sizing is just right.

I am completely in love with that s0ftly draping cowl neckline!  It’s my favourite feature of the dress!

At the back neckline I overlocked the raw edge of the suedette shell self-facing, turned it down over the underlining, and simply topstitched it in place…

I was quite pleased with myself when the front facing/underlining turned out quite clean and neatly done; I cut the front underlining the right length so as to stitch to the lower edge of the front self-facing, right sides together, and then when I stitched the shoulder seam I sandwiched the back shoulder edges in-between the front and its self-facing, so all raw edges are neatly hidden inside.

I liked the idea of the dress being middy length, so lengthened all pieces by 15cm at the lower edges… this is the very maximum I could get out of my metre-age!  I was actually kicking myself I had not ordered more fabric, but was rather chuffed I managed to make it work, yay!

And that swish factor!  I love a dress with a bit of swish!

I have to say; Clara was being so sweet the day I took these pictures!  I was down south alone with her on this particular week, and setting up to take photos of my new dress and she just snuck over and plopped herself down loyally at my feet, without even being asked… I was so touched!  although the little nose touching my hand in the first picture make me suspect she thought a treat might be in the offing; poor girl, it was not!

I am wearing the dress here with my self-made tights – think I might need to make a new batch of these before winter ends!; and the boots Craig gave me for my last birthday.  It’s funny, I didn’t actually think these would get a tonne of wear since I have several pairs of black booties/boots; but I’ve enjoyed wearing them so much this winter.  Maybe even my most worn pair of boots for the year?… maybe?!