Oatmeal

I actually finished this dress on Sunday, to wear to my aunt's for a dinner party.  Almost last minute I realized that despite the lining, the dress could, in the "right" light become a "sun dress", as my husband used to call them.  I wore something else, and the dress didn't come up from the basement till I made a full slip to wear underneath. 

 

This is Vogue 2238, which is now OOP.  Guess I'm really behind the times, because it's not even on the Vogue website.  I did find someone's image at some point - sorry - didn't make note of where it came from.  Did make some changes.  Rounded the neckline, flattened the bust (OK - officially - SBA).  I suppose, it's mostly view G, which is the brownish one above the red, but I gave it the 3/4 sleeves.  The fabric is a very fine plain weave wool in - obviously - oatmeal.  (Sounds way better than boring neutral beige.)  I'm no fan of oatmeal as food, but as a colour I think it has great versatility.  Just think of all the colours I could put with it to dress it up.  Jackets work over top, as do cardigans, or it can go solo with various scarves and necklaces.  Except for the bust, the rest of the fit was perfect - a little too perfect.  I ended up letting out the side seams from the midriff down by 1/8 inch (1/2 inch total).  I do like to be able to breathe without feeling as though something is squeezing me.

This was turning into a rather ho-hum dress, so to spruce it up a bit I decided to add some trim - nothing exotic - just some "texture" - so....

 

 Just under the midriff seam and at the sleeve edges I added some "ribbons" made of the same fabric.  Added a half knot at centre front.  Crazy - I handstitched all of this in place.  Just liked the way that looked, and I didn't want to deal with having something go wrong while attempting to stitch this on the sewing machine.  I finally found a use for the presser bars that I had acquired quite some time ago with all sorts of ideas of putting Celtic knots on the backs of jackets.   That didn't happen, but I now I was able to make perfectly straight and even strips of wool fabric.  No scraps of this wool left - I had just enough to cut the dress, and barely enough to make the trim.

Needless to say, there was no way I could make a pleat in the back, so I did end up with a slit, which I topped with a crow's foot to keep the top of the slit safe from ripping.


Working on my last pair of corduroy pants  - the 4th.  Won't bore anyone with any more multiples of the same item.  Thinking of what my next project should be - I would like to get in one more wool dress - it'll probably come in handy all the way till at least then end of April.  Or should I pack all the woolies away till after the summer and tackle some lighter fabrics?

It has finally warmed up a little around here, though it's really still too cold to contemplate "light dressing".