in case you haven’t noticed, i’ve been on a kid-sewing, pant-sewing, shirt-sewing bender lately. i decided to take a small diversion and actually sew up a dress. for me. it’s been practically forever (almost five months!) since i made myself a new dress, so it’s about time!
as ya’ll know, colette patterns released the hawthorn recently (and they have a little contest happening…) and i decided to have a go at it. now i’ve never been an over the top fan of the flat collar (i.e. no stand). peter pan collars… meh. not that i begrudge them, they just don’t flutter my heart like 99.999% of the sewing bloggers out there. but i really like the shape of this dress, and the squared off collar makes it unique and i dig it. however the notched neckline, for some reason i’m just not feeling. no doubt by now ya’ll are either making obscene gestures at your computer screens, shouting at me (i can’t hear you!), or abandoning my blog altogether. i know. basically i’m a horrible person for not loving these details. i don’t know what’s wrong with me!
i kept the collar as drafted, though i did make attempts to draft a different collar with a stand. it could be done, but it was going to require much more work than i was willing to put in at the time. but that’s okay, i’m happy with it as is. i did straighten out the neckline though. i haven’t done a colette pattern for a while because they are drafting for a much different body type than my own, so i have to really be willing to put in some quality muslin time. basically i have to take their patterns and turn them into a rectangle because i have no shape from the waist up. wah-wah. so, serious SBA, forward shoulder adjustment, pinching out some room above the bust, taking in some width on the back, and on and on… i was expecting this, so that’s nothing against the pattern, it’s just what i have to do to wear their designs.
the fabric i choose is a stretch linen. i underestimated the amount of stretch this fabric has, so even though i fit my muslin closer than i normally would, it’s still a little roomy. i could have taken in the sides a little more, but ultimately i’m okay with a dress that i can wear all day and not feel constrained in. the dart tips were a little problematic and wouldn’t press well (probably because of the lycra content) so i just have to live with that. i think i should have done a little more SBA-ing to compensate for the stretch factor and that would have helped them lay nicer. oh well, live and learn!
my only beef with the pattern is all the shoulder seams piled on top of each other. the collar pieces at the shoulder as does the facing. so between the top and under collar layers, the bodice, and the facing, you end up with 8 layers sitting at the shoulder. if i make this pattern again (really wanting a fall plaid version!) i’ll have to reconfigure that somehow. also, the neckline and facing has only a 1/4″ SA. now, i’m all about varying SA’s, but with a thicker fabric, it’s impossible to grade those layers. it may require more stitching to keep everything in place, but that’s just something to watch out for.
i did a little extra topstitching around the button area for stability and to keep the facing in place, and at the waist. i serged all my insides and finished the armholes and hem with pink bias tape, and even though i’ve been sewing all my buttons on by machine lately, it just felt right to actually attach these by hand. it’s easier to properly shank them that way.
overall i’m super happy with how my dress came out! the fitting was fairly easy, but that’s just because i’m more in-tune with the alterations i require. it’s pretty satisfying to be able to take a pattern drafted for a shape so unlike my own and still be able to make it work for me. [pats self on back]
so what about you… have you gone for the hawthorn?
—lisa g.