french navy, french navy orla

Partly because of the colour. And partly because the designer is also French Navy. Truly!

So, recently I discovered Sarah of french navy .. she has a chic, pared back style; easy, casual, uncluttered, slightly sporty, one that I love and very much can relate to; and it was exciting to see that she has lately decided to dabble in a little pattern designing. Her first pattern, the Orla dress, is a free pattern, I decided to give it a whirl; stat! hied myself over to her site, printed it out… and boom! Made it!
Fabric; a piece of thin, lightweight cotton drill given to me by my friend L when she was doing a big clean out out of her garage and “discovered” a large stash of fabric… I was so thrilled that she offered it to me! #insanefabricaddict Don’t you just LOVE friends like that?! She’s like, what IS this pile of junk? hey maybe my friend Carolyn would like it… So my fabric was free too. Basically, apart from the invisible zip, my dress was fabulously FREEEEEE!!!!! #miser

The Orla is a super quick and fun little pattern which is exactly what I wanted to cleanse my palate, so to speak, after my mad Christmas making-fest… Featuring a gently fitted bodice, rather pert short sleeves, which I think I would be rather nice in elbow length too; a highish waistline, and with a gathered rectangle skirt. I think the low scooped neckline is really lovely, it’s my favourite thing about the pattern. I added 3cm in length to my skirt… just because I thought the gathered skirt gave it a rather young look and I’m.. well, you know. not. Hehe, to be honest I agonised over the length of this skirt, you don’t want to know for how long.. at least as long as it took to make the whole dress. I pinned and tried on, contemplated; re-pinned, re-tried on, re-contemplated… I finally settled upon keeping some extra length that I’d added while cutting out, but I’m still partially tossing up the idea of re-hemming it shorter again. Man, I am SOOOOOO indecisive sometimes, I drive myself batty… I think I’m going to be ok with this length… FOR NOW, she intones, dramatically. I may or may not change it up on a whim, whenever. But maybe not. Might do, though.

Oh, I added inseam side pockets. Goes almost without saying, yeah? Everything’s better with pockets!

The neckline is finished with a bias cut strip, topstitched on the outside, and I added a hook and eye closure at the top. Normally I’m sloppy about that sort of thing but every once in a while I rouse myself to add these proper little extra touches.

oh HELLO you gorgeous thing.. yes you are a BUNCH more interesting than some old sewing details yes you are you big boo-fful fluffy ol’ booffy booff you… (cuddles ensue)

Ahem… So yes; now I have a new, sorta minimalist little frock, to be dressed up or down as the occasion demands. Knowing my lifestyle, most likely down. hehe. Seriously, at this time of year I LIVE in easy, just throw-it-on little dresses, and this is a great new colour for my current wardrobe too. It’s nice to have a few different silhouettes to choose from too and this one is a little different from my current crop of sack-like summer dresses; more fitted, loosely-waisted, with that low scooping neckline, feels a bit more “classic”. Hey, no judgement, I love my shapeless sacks too! but just that it’s good to have some variety.

And I’m looking forward to seeing what Sarah designs next!