Clara - a winter dress and Thanks to Elise of honig design

The fabulous Elise of honig design - and she is fabulous, have you seen her self drafted wardrobe?
Anyway, she has designed an absolutely fabulous Garden Party dress that has serious play value, looking great while being easy to move in. She's made and blogged about three different versions and shared some renditions made by some talented bloggers..

Yes, that's right, it's a FREE .PDF download!! Thank You Elise!

I went searching for some grey or navy suiting material and managed to come home from Brunswick St with a stretchy charcoal brown - I really shouldn't be allowed to buy fabric alone - mainly as I also bought a slinky B&W print that I adore but DH looked askance at and the dachshund wants to curl up on - surely that's a GOOD sign?

Anyway, despite my slap-hazard pdf piecing and cutting out, the bodice fitted (yes, I made a muslin, I must be learning!) and I only needed to draft out a size at the waist.

I did struggle with the zip, but that's not new for me, an invisible one was ripped out more than three times - and I did make that a little harder than I could have - as that muslin I mentioned, I only pinned it at the neck & waist - so across the widest part of my shoulders, I only had a 5mm seam allowance - how fortunate was I to have chosen that stretchy material ;) (I know, I know!!!!)

I then decided to up the difficulty by trying for full length sleeves... my trusty library's stash of pattern and fitting books were useful as background reading, and paper weights. In the end, I cut the sleeves exactly as printed, just longer. The material definitely helps with keeping a full range of arm movement.
I kept my trust in Elise's pattern and she didn't let me down.

I love the pleats!
I did have to move the pleats after trying the skirt on as the initial placement wasn't particularly flattering for me, but that was actually quite fun.
 - have you met Florence yet? she's the newest addition to my sewing room and definitely made pleat adjustments much more enjoyable ;)

I hemmed it long, much longer than the jaunty skirt of the Garden Party dress, but she is my Winter Clara dress for wearing with boots - and she is rather comfortable. Next time I'll try a bright pattern with less stretch, so Thank You Honig Design for making your Garden Party dress available.
;) - and the dachshund? he's asleep in the remnants.