Finale no. 2 - Little Black Laurel

Hello again! Here's my second dress that I made during the holiday dress sew along - a little black dress using the Laurel pattern by Colette. Again, first the details:

Pattern: Laurel by Colette Patterns, version 1

Fabric:  black Polyester Crepe (EUR 5,-  per metre) and  some silky golden lining (EUR 6,- per metre. Sorry, I don't know how it's called) both from Alfatex)

Size: 12

Alterations: narrow shoulder adjustment, lengthened the sleeves by 12 cm, added a woven border at the hem, joined the lining and the shell at the neckline instead of finishing it with bias binding, added two small darts at the rear neckline.

So, hier nun auch mein zweites Weihnachtskleid, das ich eigentlich als erstes genäht habe. Da ich im Sew-Along schon alles darüber geschrieben habe, bleibt wieder nicht viel zu sagen. Ich lasse Bilder sprechen - mit denen ich leider ganz und gar nicht zufrieden bin. Gestern öffnete sich nur ein kurzes Zeitfenster zum Fotografieren, in dem es aber leider auch schon wieder zu dunkel war. 

Ich habe das Kleid gestern Abend schon zu einer Familienfeier getragen und mich pudelwohl gefühlt. Ich habe eine Menge Komplimente bekommen - auch schon bevor die Bewunderer wussten, dass das Kleid selbst genäht ist! 

Ich bin mit meinen beiden Weihnachtskleidern wirklich außerordentlich zufrieden und bin froh, dass ich beim Sew-Along mitgemacht habe.  Katharina hat die ganze Zeit über ganz hervorragend und charmant moderiert. Vielen Dank dafür! Es war spannend zu sehen, welche Ideen/Pläne/Problemchen alle anderen Teilnehmerinnen so hatten. Und jetzt freue ich mich so sehr, alle fertigen Weihnachtskelider zu bewundern! Zum großen Schaulaufen geht es hier entlang.

 

The initital inspiration for the dress came from the woven border I had purchased at a local fabric shop. I wanted to use it as a detail on a simple black dress. I had planned to sew the Colette Laurel for a while and here came its chance. The Laurel is such a versatile and easy-to-sew dress! It's not too fitted but the darts in the back give it some shape and a nice silhouette. I only had to narrow the shoulders a bit and added some length to the sleeves. Other than that, I didn't change anything. I made the experience that Colette pattern have quite some ease so I went with a ize 12, which is one size smaller than suggested for my measurements.

 

The instructions tell you to interline the dress and then finish off the neckline with bias binding. I didn't want to do that extra step in the end, so I made two seperate dresses and sewed them together at the neckline. This makes a clean finish but lowers the neckline by the amount of your seam allowance. I'm totally fine with my neckline though.

 

After everything was finished I hemmed the skirt with the machine and sewed on the border by hand on top of the stitching. 

I already wore the dress to a family gathering last night and got a lot of compliments (without telling that it was self-made at first!). I love my Little Black Laurel very much and I already have a dozen of other variations in mind!