Colette Dahlia Dress

Ahh, the Colette Dahlia Dress. How the blogosphere loves a new indie pattern. By all accounts, it flew of the shelves when it was released earlier this year. I too grabbed mine during the launch discount. The waist yoke follows the design lines of one of my favourite RTW brands, Boden, and I know it works for my apple shaped figure.

I went against good advice and decided to make it up in a stretch, 2 meters of navy Ponte de Roma from Minerva. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this fabric. Love: it cut and sewed beautifully, it didn't move, didn't fray, didn't need pressing or seam finishing and it washed easily. Hate: it picks up lint like crazy. Then it doesn't let it go. It is an absolute nightmare. I can brush it and see the lint moving about like seaweed in a current. Nightmare.

I made it up with Version 1, with the sleeves and the straight skirt. I made quite a few modifications to the pattern, first for my shape and then for general fit issues through the high bust/shoulders. I measured a size 4 in the bust and hips and a size 10 in the waist. I ended up pulling in the waist to half way between the 6 and the 8. I have a strange figure like that. The high bust was way too large. I should have taken in the top of each shoulder seam by 1cm. But I ended up just taking in the back seams and gathering the centre front by a bit extra. I lengthened the sleeves by 4 inches to get them to cover my elbows. I gathered these too, and ended up taking in an additional 1cm through the lower sleeve too.

The waist yoke has ended up being very bulky. I should have made the inside piece in a lightweight cotton jersey. It doesn't look too bad in the pictures, but I am conscious that I don't need any extra bulk around my waistline.

I used my walking foot for the seams and hemmed it by hand.

Verdict
7 out of 10. Not a fail, but not a favourite. I'm on the fence about using this pattern again. I won't be buying more of this fabric.

Cost
Fabric: 2m Navy Ponte de Roma (Minerva) £13.04
Pattern: Dahlia pdf (Colette) £6.50
Zip: as instructed by pattern (John Lewis) £3.50
Thread: stash £0.00
Total: £23.04