Orla Dress...

My Machine is fixed! Thanks to the internet and the patient genius of Piemaker. (Partly because he was sick of me sat next to him asking silly questions about his new Xbox game,)

I managed to finish a new winter dress! I needed something comfy that I could wear with leggings and boots as the weather gets progressively worse.

I have a box full of Jersey and voila a dress was born. This particular fabric had been paired with Vogue 8685 when I bought it at Goldhawk Road. (Don't forget the Goldhawk trip on the 19th! This Saturday!)

As a Fashion/Design History Student the print really appealed to me.

The pattern is very similar to Orla Keily's logo. At £3 per M I was not going to leave this in the shop...

I wasn't expecting it to, but this dress has a kind of Egyptian vibe to it. The shiny bronze bits tend to shimmer in a kind of antique gold kinda way. I'm really happy with it!

I think its important to show you the tech drawing so you can see the shape. I chose to do View C but I shortened the sleeves to a 3/4 length, lowered the neckline about 2in and as mine is jersey, I didn't bother with the skirt split and just took the wedge out of the back.

Overall I'm really pleased with the result I got. I like that the design of the dress isn't overly obvious. Like a clever trick! It's not the most flattering top skirt piece if you have a tummy like me (Scary holding in pants helped here.) But I think if you wore a slip it would make a world of difference!

It would be beautiful in a more moderate knit like a ponte in a bold plain colour. So you can see the design clearly. I'm intending to make another in a hot pink wool. (Possibly drafting the skirt without the top skirt detail.)

I had to fiddle at the point where the corners of that top skirt piece met at the side seams. But that and taking it in were really the only issues I had.

I totally recommend making the dress! I was done in a couple of evenings.

I also thought I'd show you my Grandmother's dresser I inherited. I finally got it to our house this week and its great to have a place to display my vintage dressing table trinkets!