The Late Night Sewist

I wish you all a very happy 2015, may your hopes and wishes come true!

I wasn´t able to find a quiet moment in the hectic but nevertheless enjoyable holiday period to blog about some of the recent finished objects, but found the time today, on the first day of the new year.

It has become somewhat of a tradition to make myself a new dress for each holiday season and 2014 was no exception.

This time I was looking for a suitable pattern for the ikat fabric I got from Istanbul in spring. The problem was that due to the busy pattern of the fabric and the fact that I only had 1,6 m of only 80 cm wide fabric, it had to be really simple. In the end, I decided to try a totally new pattern, from the book Famous Frocks: The Little Black Dress: Patterns for 20 Garments Inspired by Fashion Icons.

The pattern I used is a variation of Kate Moss inspired dress:

According to the size chart, I cut size S, but if I decide to use any of the patterns from the book in the future, I will cut a size smaller for sure, it was too wide everywhere. Thankfully the pattern is simple, so it wasn´t a big problem to take in on both sides.

Although the pattern instructions don´t call for a lining, I added one, because the ikat silk is very thin and delicate. Actually this was the hardest thing about making that dress – trying to tame the extremely fraying material. I used up the last remnant of my favourite lining fabric – the black stretch I got from Poland some time ago. Since it was a remnant, I didn´t get enough length for my lining and I used a piece of beautiful lingerie border lace to finish the lining hem.

Attaching the black sequins one by one was actually quite enjoyable, although it took me a few evenings during the busiest pre-holiday days at work. As you can see, the last row is double on one side and single on the other, I don´t even know if this happened because of the sequin-placement or if the collar piece is slightly wider on one side. However, it doesn´t bother me since it is nearly impossible to notice unless one is specifically examining the dress. The sequins are only attached to the front part of the collar.

By the time I write this, I have been wearing the dress on several occasions, since the end of the year has been full of parties and concerts and I have loved wearing it every single time. The only fear I have is that it may not last very long as the fabric is so delicate.

I am also super satisfied with the first pair of comfortable party shoes, they are model Claudia by Dune London:

This years holidays have been very special and I have enjoyed every moment. I even managed to squeeze in a short city trip to Amsterdam as well, more about this soon!