What is there to say about the Chantilly pattern that I
haven’t already said? Not much, except that while it is a time consuming and
slightly fiddly dress to sew, it’s nonetheless a lovely pattern to work from.
Everything is so clear and straightforward, and the dress is just such a joy to
wear.
After splurging a bit on the fabric, I decided to economise
somewhat by lining the dress with a sheet from Ikea. I’ve done this before and
I really like it – the cotton is breathable and easy to work with, as well as
being comfortable to wear. The only adjustments I made to the pattern were to
omit the pockets and to cut the back neckline piece in two bits rather than on
the fold. This was for the sake of efficiency – I managed to just squeeze this
dress out of 3 metres of fabric.
The other thing I did was to hem the dress
with contrasting bias tape, into which I sewed horsehair braid:
I’ve never worked with horsehair braid before and this ended
up being fiddly and time consuming, but quite easy all the same. I sewed the
bias binding to the right side of the hem, then pressed it to the inside of the
dress. I pinned the bias binding, with the horsehair braid underneath, to the
dress and then catch-stitched it all to the inside of the dress. It is fabulous!
I just took a notion on Friday afternoon to give it a go and luckily one of the
fabric stores in Leamington had some in stock – which surprised me, because
often they don’t even have zips! I love the shape it gives to the skirt, and
the stiffness at the hem really draws attention to the fabulous print. I have
some left over and I’m already plotting what else it can go into!
I wore the dress today to work – partly because I was keen to
wear it, partly because my colleague AM has just started sewing and she wanted
to see it (hi, AM!) I’m lucky in that, while my colleagues dress fairly conservatively
for work, the dress code is smart-casual and they’re used to my more
extravagant outfits! There’s rarely an occasion when I don’t want to wear my
Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes and, as I looked like a giant cupcake anyway I thought there was no point in under-doing it. I even accessorised with matching Eiffel tower earrings:
It isn't summer yet, though, so I also wore this with a white cardigan:
It's frightening to me, how much I look like my daddy in these photos...
What I didn't do today was wear this with a petticoat underneath, as I have done in the past with my other Chantilly dresses. I thought that might be a bit much for work. I did test it out, though, and it looks fabulous. One of our friends is getting married to his beautiful French fiancee in July, and I think I may wear this to that happy event, Eiffel tower earrings and all!
This is the third Chantilly dress I have made, and I reckon I do have another one in me. Not this month, but this pattern is just so lovely to sew from and the dresses so fabulous to wear. If you've been on the fence about getting the pattern, get it!
So, that's my first Me Made outfit of May! My fabric arrived today and is being pre-washed as I type, and I have some sewing time booked in over this long weekend. I'll be back later in the week with some more handmade goodness, but until then I leave you with this...
Et maintenant le voyage a la supermarche!
