I have had this pattern forever. It was offered as a freebie download in a sewing magazine and never one to pass up a freebie, I grabbed it and a quick look around blogosphere reveals it could be as early as 2011; I think it was given as an enticement when the Colette Sewing Handbook was released.
Anyway, it has sat there quietly gathering dust, along with a chiffon remnant I have had in my stash for not quite so many years. I may have mentioned before that I love a good rummage through the remnant bin of my local fabric shop. I never pay more that £5 and manage to come away with enough fabric for dress and this was no exception. This chiffon is the female equivalent of Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat. It has every colour under the sun and most are in my autumn colour palette (so unheard of) and will go with just about everything. Trying to get through my stash of fabric I paired it with the Taffy pattern.
I decided to wing it and not make a toile for this.......there is method in my madness. Colette is known for making their patterns to fit a C cup (unlike the Big Four, who only do a B), it is a bias cut pattern (so will stretch) and it has big floaty sleeves. The downsides mainly mentioned are the sleeves are HUGE and the neckline quite wide. Being a C/D cup and thinking I am fairly broad shouldered, I decided it was worth a shot without the toile.
It is a very easy pattern - only 3 pieces: bodice front and back and sleeves. There are ties but I didn't have any instructions so didn't make them (and was wondering what the marks on the side backs were, sigh!). I couldn't pattern match but I did try to go for colour matching at the sleeve head and figured it wouldn't matter too much if I didn't get it spot. I didn't and it doesn't!
The edges of the sleeve and neckline are edged in binding and I didn't have a light-weight fabric so decided to make chiffon bias-binding...........sharp intake of breath! I managed it and do not intend repeating that particular task EVER! I decided to use the binding as a type of facing for the sleeves but did a bound neckline as I didn't want to take anymore off the edge, just in case it did prove to be on the large side. Oh and a word of warning, those sleeves are massive, they are almost full circle.
And here it is.
Have to say that the comments re the wide neckline are right, it is a bit wide, even on me (of course it could mean I'm not as broad-shouldered as I thought), but I can live with it. That said, I love it and I have to say, I think it may become a favourite staple. It is a dress-up-dress-down item. It will go with loads of things, pencil skirt, jeans, smart trousers and I have a few cardigans that will go with it. And I really love the sleeves. They are big and floaty and hang beautifully (and hide a multitude of sins, if you catch my drift) and the fit of the top is great. The ties aren't really necessary, not for me anyway but I may make a belt just to jazz it up a bit. Definitely worth a go and is spectacular in the right fabric!
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