this fabric is gorgeous!!

The funny thing was; I knew I was going to like this dress because the fabric is just so utterly divine, the pattern that I was a little hmmm about…? but I’m completely in love with the end result so all’s well that ends very very well!

So, fabric first… this is a cotton lawn from Storrs of London. It is described as a 100% Egyptian Superfine cotton lawn, and it is, as already mentioned; DIVINE. It has the exact same feel and hand, and gentle light crispness as Liberty… although diehard Liberty aficionados might come for me, but that’s just my honest opinion! This particular design is Cap Ferrat, and I honestly struggled to choose just one because there are so many breathtakingly lovely colours and prints to peruse. I absolutely have to get some more for a shirt for Craig… or maybe just another piece for myself hmmm hehe…

The pattern, this is the popular Deer and Doe Mysotis dress, of which I’ve seen more lovely versions than I can mention! I actually bought the pattern two years ago, and it’s taken me this long to finally get around to it, which is a little embarrassing, huh. I dunno, I’ve just been busy. #weddings Anyway, I’ve always liked the style and thought this gorgeous print would look nice in the style. And it does!

So like I said, I did have reservations about it though… as I shall now address. The bust darts on this thing are FIERCE. I think it really is intended for a far more busty lady than myself, to be honest and was quite worried I was going to end up with the dreaded deflated balloon look on my chest. I debated whether to tone them down, perhaps to redraft the front to be a more gentle princess seam or something. Eventually I did reduce the darts a bit but still went for the double darted style as designed, and while the front is still a wee bit flooffy on me I don’t think it’s too bad. For a future version I will definitely tone them down even more though.

Everything else about the style I love, though. The sleeves are super lovely, and I completely adore the gently V neckline too, and even the gathered skirts are beautifully proportioned and look very on-trend to my eyes.

It does feel quite short on me! and I even made the hem a teensy bit longer, and hemmed as narrow as I could. Probably best to avoid touching my toes in public… but I do think the style is super cute though, so I’m happy. Cute and flirty and fun and perfect for summer. Everyone needs a sweet little red dress for summer!

Normally I find gathering to be a pain in the neck, but this crisp, very lightweight cotton took to it beautifully. Yes, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the gathering was actually a dream. You know how some fabrics are just a delight to work with, from the very beginning of a project to the end? Well that’s exactly what this stuff is. Just pure joy. In case it wasn’t obvious, I can highly recommend!

I also whipped up a quick mask! Haha, I felt extremely self conscious wearing this! even though I was by myself taking these photos, apart from Clara; see, we are extremely lucky so far here in Western Australia that our hard border closure has ensured we have no community cases of covid-19, so we have not had the need to wear masks yet; but I think no one is kidding themselves that we will never get cases here. I think it’s inevitable, eventually. Anyway, I do carry one of my masks around in my bag all the time, and I thought it would be fun to whip up a matching one for this dress … I’ve seen so many cute matching masks from other makers on instagram! I lined it with red poplin, leftover from one I’d made for Craig’s Mum, and cut strips off an already partially cut-up old free Wildcats T-shirt for the straps.

So, funny story… I know it’s not obvious in my pictures here, but… did you notice my footwear?!! SO I got dressed in the morning, in a hurry, because my days are packed solid at the moment and I just grabbed my thongs, shoved them on my feet and was off. I took some photos of my new dress for my blog here, did some work, and then at lunchtime took myself and Clara off to the beach for our walk. And only much later did I suddenly noticed my feet. LOL!