NSM Challenge Week 1: Colette Macaron

Sunday, September 09, 2012

I didn't get to bed until 2:30 am. There would be no sleep for me until she was complete. My first week challenge in honor of National Sewing Month is complete and she's "purrfect".

I'm in love with this dress! The fit is awesome and it's so comfy. I'm so in love with it I went to bed and had dreams of it the whole night. Woke up bright and early at 7am because I couldn't wait to get it on again. It wasn't always a love affair though. At first I thought the Macaron was just "eh". I didn't even vote for it in the Sew Colette 2.0 sew along, my choice was the Iris shorts. After reading numerous blogs and seeing so many cute versions I decided to give it my all and I'm so glad I did.

I'm gonna spare you the muslin dramatics. No need in boring everyone, besides this post would be 10 pages long. To sum it up I made 5 muslins of the bodice and 1 full muslin. I found the Macaron very easy to put together, my issues were my own fitting woes, besides with 6 muslins under my belt I should be able to put this dress together with my eyes closed. I asked for quite a bit of help and I want to thank everyone who responded to my emails and helped me out, including Ms Colette herself, Sarai Mitnick ♥. My final cut was as follows: Size 0 for the yoke. I had quite a bit of excess fabric in the back yoke causing a bubble effect. I shortened the back yoke by 1 inch. I also shortened the front yoke by 1/2 inch. The rest of the pieces I cut a size 4. So this was all fine and dandy until I went to attach my bodice pieces together...my seams were not lining up because of the fact I cut one inch of the back and only 1/2 inch off the front. I adjusted my bust darts by 1/2 inch to accomodate. This worked rather well and because of it I got a nicer fit.

My favorites of this dress are the pockets, sleeves and the pleats...ok the whole thing is a huge score in my book.

My invisible zipper is not perfect but I need lots of practice. Being the perfectionist I am it really bothers me that my side seam doesn't match up perfectly. But I'm going ignore that nagging voice in my head and refrain from ripping it out and re doing it. Besides it's not that noticeable. The nice thing about side zips are your arms cover them up. No one will ever notice (so shut the hell up nagging voice!).

I finished up a couple of my seams with bias tape. However I ended up running out of tape and time so I pinked the rest of the seams.

Oh and we mustn't forget to talk about the fabric!! For the contrasting pieces I found a vintage kitty print on Etsy. I spotted it in Pumpkin Truck's shop and had to have it all! It's a medium weight woven cotton with the cutest silhouettes of cats. The main bodice and skirt are a navy blue lightweight corduroy from Joann's. Perfect for Fall. So with Fall in mind should I pair this dress with some boots and tights? Colors?? Black, blue... I always draw a blank when it comes to coordinating dresses with shoes and tights.

my makeshift back drop looks like a tablecloth..just trying to cover up the mirror behind me

Make sure to take a look at all the other Macaron's on the Sew Colette flickr group. So many cute versions and talented sewists!! I always love joining in on sew alongs, it's a chance to see others talents and always fun to see how they make it their own.