Completed: Laurel dress

When Colette Patterns released their latest pattern, the Laurel, I was seriously underwhelmed. I had been hoping for a shift dress as many had rumoured as I wanted one, or perhaps two, to add to my summer wardrobe. I worried that the pattern would be far too loose and big on me and that it would be very unflattering. But then Sarai began to show how the pattern could be changed and I began thinking. Perhaps there was potential in this for me, so I bought the pattern. Being slightly in doubt about it still I decided to make a muslin. You might think that is a little strange for a loose fitting garment but I am so glad I did. I honestly looked like I was wearing a sack! Adam actually laughed at how big it was around my hips! However I could see that this is something I could wear if I cut out a smaller size. I liked the shape of it but just not how big it was. So that is what I did. 

I wanted a dress to add to my summer collection. It had to be simple but delicate. The fabric is cotton poplin and this is my first time using it. It is more delicate than I imagined with pin marks lasting a long time after they had been removed. It also crumples quickly as you can see from the photos. It began life in white as I couldn’t find the right colour. I decided to dye it using Dylon’s ‘Burlesque Red’ which is actually more along the purple line than red. I hand dyed it to give me a little more control over the colour. The finished article couldn’t be plain, I needed to have some form of embellishment and settled on a crochet cotton trim. 

The construction is very simple as there are only three pieces or six in mine as I opted for version one which is fully underlined. The underlining is made from the same fabric in the same colour to be as true to it as possible. I hadn’t underlined before but it turns out it is very simple. The zip went in reasonably well. It isn’t perfect but I can live with it. Putting a zip in properly is definitely something I need to work on. 

The trickiest thing for me was actually the placement of the front darts. I put it on to check the fit after inserting the zip when Adam pointed out that one my darts was off by about 5mm. Cue some unpicking! I’m still not sure they are fully level but I can cope with them now. I won’t spend every minute I wear this dress wondering if others can see my mistakes. One thing I loved about this pattern is that there are no facings! I generally don’t get on well with facings. Instead you use bias binding. I chose a narrow binding around the arms and neckline to fit in with the simple but delicate theme. 

Do I love this dress? Sort of. It is different to what I usually wear and there were times when we taking the photos that it looked rather unflattering across key areas which makes me worry about what it looks like normally! But I love the colour. I’ll definitely make the pattern as a top as the fit there is much better. If I made the dress again I would need to play with the fit a bit more. However, I’m sure this will make it into my suitcase for a summer holiday…