Another Spring Dress?!

I know.  I KNOW.  The high today was 53 and I'm about to show you a sleeveless dress made with the lightest cotton ever.  Excuse me for being an idiot.

However, in my defense, next week will be in the 70s, and I live in the south, so we'll only get warmer from there, right?  That's my wish, anyway: to feel warm again.

After I finished my shirtdress from the last post, and sometimes while I was working on my shirtdress from the last post, I started a Colette Chantilly dress.  I cut them both out the same night.  Do you do that?  I find it's easier for me to stay focused if I can cut everything at once.  I'll cut out two or three skirts or shirts or dresses at once just to have it done and over with, because cutting is a necessary evil.  And then this Chantilly sat for a couple days until I ran out of interfacing, so I started sewing darts, gathers, and all those other fun, non-interfaced things.

I actually skipped around a lot on this dress.  I made the bodice, and then the yoke; I sewed the skirts and the bodice before even thinking about the lining; I inserted the zipper before I finished the yoke.  I guess the only thing I did "right" was I hemmed it very last, after everything else was done.

I used fabric by Sarah Watson for Art Gallery.  I know a lot of people have beef with quilting cotton and that's fine; I refuse to use anything polyester, so we all have our differences.  But this is seriously the softest and smoothest quilting cotton!  It felt more like lawn or voile with a crisper hand.  It was just lovely.

I originally bought this fabric for this dress, in fact--I've had it sitting in my stash since around Christmas, just waiting.  I had to purchase lining, of course, and notions, and why make a spring dress in the middle of winter?  I'll tell you why: so you aren't so rushed, worrying you won't finish it in time for a nice-weather weekend.  

If the back looks a little wonky, it's because it's the result of an optical illusion--the yoke and bodice somehow matched up pretty well--and it's probably also a little wonky.

I did try this on the other night and Nick said it brought "attention to my boob area, so that's great."  Thanks honey!  What a pal.  I do plan on wearing a cardigan.  I like that this dress is so floaty and light: quilting cotton and cotton batiste make for a meringue-like consistency in dresses.  I'm really excited to wear it when I no longer shiver from standing in a shadow.  Please, oh please, let that be soon!

I'd also like to note that this dress was the first pattern I bought when I decided to start sewing.  I'd never heard of Colette, never seen anything by Sarai, but came across this on Fabric.com.  In fact, I even emailed them to ask if dotted Swiss would be appropriate (duh, Emily, they said in nicer tones).  I ended up using the dotted Swiss on a Banksia top long ago, and hung onto this pattern until the right fabric came along.  I'm glad I waited, because this dress stumped me at some points, and I feel like I can pretty easily coast through most projects now.  But my linings didn't match, my armholes were uneven--messy, but worth it.

What's next on my sewing agenda?  I'm not sure!  I have some bee blocks to do but that's about it.  I mean, I do have stacks and stacks of fabric I should probably use, but I'm going to take this weekend--my mom's birthday weekend!--to figure out what's next.  Another Truffle?  Another Cambie?  An Alma?  Who knows.  Suggestions, as always, are welcome!