Lux fabric pattern hack = little red dress!

Warning:  before you read any further you might need to go get your sun glasses and put them on!

Why?  Because I've had a bit of a mono tone, near the black end of the colour scale, kinda obsession.  Just check this out for proof!  Then this happened ...

Nope, no gradual introduction of colour over here - just jump right on in there a sew a red dress!

Well actually it's not just any read dress, it a beautifully soft wool crepe red dress.  And while the photos look bright the actual colour is more like a raspberry / ruby kinda mix.

Growing up as a kid I've got these memories of, what I now know to be, polyester crepe clothing.  I don't know what made me take a dislike to it, but it always made me shudder.  So whenever anyone mentioned crepe, I'm like, MEH!  But then the lovely MrsC said that I needed to go down to The Fabric Store and take a look at the lux wool crepe that they have in store in this really yummy raspberry.  Now if MrsC says that something is lux, then it must be - so off I went to the fabric shop ... I don't need to be told twice to go fabric shopping :-)

She wasn't wrong - this wool crepe is lux lux lux.  It's this stable woven that is light but malleable with this beautiful drape.  So you know I didn't just walk out of the shop with this one piece, oh no!  I bought some black and some beige - every colour they had actually!

Just look how beautifully it falls :-)  Have you recognised the pattern yet?  I had this idea floating around in my head for a while, but just wasn't sure what fabric I wanted to use.  So when the wool crepe jumped into my life I knew that it was just right for this dress. 

This is the Bill Jean Dress by Bluegingerdoll, which I'd made before here.  This dress looks super different after all the adjustments I made.  Here's the list:

• the inner shoulder seam was lengthened to bring it closer to the neck.  The outer shoulder seam is original and creates this lovely wee cap.
• extended the back upwards towards the neck to completely cover the back.  The original pattern has a scoop neck at the back.
• changed the darts in the skirt back and front to be pleats with the top sewn so it still sits flat below my waist.
• changed the shape of the skirt to an semi A-line shape, while maintaining the hip shaping of the pattern.
• dropped the upper chest by 1/2".

I really do like the bodice shape of the Bill Jean - the princes seams just seam to fall in all the right places.

What I'm not in love with are the armholes *face plant*.

What I should have done, is raise the underarm by 1/2" when I lowered the upper chest.  And perhaps I should have considered reshaping the front and back armhole when I extended the shoulder seam in.  I did do a muslin before I cut into this beautiful fabric, and it looked okay, but I don't think I looked close enough - I was busy looking for where the waist fell and whether my bust was fitting into the princess seams where they should and that I was okay with the partially sewn pleats.

I'll feel a lot less self-conscious with a wee cardi thrown over top ... there better already :-)

I lined this with some acetate that feels like silk rather than the usual slippery acetate stuff.  I didn't really plan the lining and just grabbed something from the stash, well actually the only light coloured stuff I had, which was this beige stripe - you can see it poking out of the back shot above.  It probably would have been better with something that had a little more weight, but oh hum it's done now!

Usually I like to wear my stuff a few times before I blog about them, so I can reconsider my thoughts that I had when I finished it.  Cause I go through this love / hate relationship with every garment I make and don't really make up my mind until I've worn it.  But I haven't worn this dress at all yet, other than to take photos.  It's still too cold here to go without stockings and this dress is too light weight.

For now I'm looking forward to summer and getting to wear this one :-)

More photos on my Flickr -->