Sew: Colette Moneta Dress

I may have bought an excessive amount of Jaywalk fabric.... Is 7.5 metres excessive?? I also got 1.5 metres of the natural colourway... I have plans people!!

A Moneta dress was always on the list, plus the competition Laurel dress. I also plan on making a Mandy boat tee out of both colourways. That might leave me with enough for a simple knit pencil skirt or something. Jaywalk overload! It is such a beautiful quality weight fabric. I can't get enough of it.

You've probably seen a million versions of the Moneta dress around the online sewing community. I think it's a fabulous pattern. I wasn't that keen on it at first but thought it was worth a shot. It came together beautifully and I've worn it a LOT in the 3 weeks since I made it.

I omitted the side seams pockets as I don't need any extra bulk on my hips, thank you very much. I also chose not to line the bodice. It's not necessary, adds a lot to the fabric requirements and would be too hot in the Australian summer. I simply bound the neckline with the black stripe. Otherwise it is a straight size XL with the 3/4 sleeves.

There is a little bit of excess fabric in the underarm area. I could fix this by sewing a larger seam allowance in this area. I probably should but it doesn't seem to bother me at the moment. Maybe one day... 

I had a bit of trouble sewing the skirt to the clear elastic for the waist. My machine likes to grab the clear elastic which makes it quite tricky to stretch and sew at the same time. I might try a normal elastic next time instead of the clear elastic. You can see in the photo below that the gathers aren't even. I seemed to have avoided having the gathers on my hips, which was a successful fluke of genius. Now, if only I could work out how to do this again... 

As I mentioned, I've worn this dress quite a bit since I made it. It is so comfortable yet stylish. I wear it with my beloved Cordova jacket and patent pumps to work or a cardigan and boots for casual.

Project Details

Pattern: Colette Moneta, size XL

Fabric: Black/natural viscose/elastane jersey knit "Jaywalk" from Tessuti Fabrics

Alterations: Omitted bodice lining and pockets. 

I should also mention that the length is as per the pattern. This is worth mentioning because I always lengthen dresses but I had to remove the extra length from this. I'm 178cm tall and it is a good length. My only other suggestion is to not over fit the dress. The weight of the skirt pulls the bodice down and makes it slimmer. Over fitting the bodice, especially in a plain fabric, would show every lump and bump. This happened in my Lady Skater dress and I consciously avoided it during this make. 

I'm super pleased with this dress and I plan on making it in a red knit that's loitering in my stash. Have you made the Colette Moneta dress yet? 

L x

Ps. I entered this dress in the Jaywalk competition too. It was a last minute decision!

Sew: Jaywalk Laurel

This is one bad ass Laurel. Laurel is supposed to be sweet and feminine but this one ain't! Jaywalk fabric, black knit, exposed zippers and a touch of red. A match made in heaven. 

As soon as I saw this competition announced I knew I was going to make a shift dress. Starting with the Laurel pattern, I performed a series of alterations to achieve the look I was after. I did my standard sway back adjustment, removing the excess from the back neckline in the process. After these alterations, I folded out the bust dart all the way across, raised the back neckline and placed the back pattern piece on the fold. I simply omitted the waist darts. I traced off the desired yoke piece and added seam allowances. Voila! It worked a treat. 

I gained inspiration from Pinterest for this make. The Tessuti stripes board was a winner. You can see my particular inspiration pics below. These pictures are all from the Tessuti board.

I was repeatedly drawn to a few key features. I wanted contrast sleeves, coloured binding on the neckline, a loose fit, patch pockets and an exposed zipper. I got all of them except the patch pockets. I want those to be black and if I put them on I was concerned about going over the 20% allowance for non-Jaywalk fabric. So I can add them later if I want. We'll see! 

I decided on red binding for the neckline. It would have been much easier to use black but I do thrive on a challenge. You can see a tiny sliver of the red binding in the above pictures. Below are the inside garment pictures. Pretty, isn't she??

The exposed zipper is purely decorative. I left the centre seam in the back yoke and stitched it together before stitching the zipper over the top. The seam provided the zip with some stability.

Project Details
Pattern: Colette Laurel dress, size 14
Fabric: Black/natural viscose/elastane jersey knit "Jaywalk" and black dot com jersey from Tessuti Fabrics
Alterations: Sway back adjustment, removed 3cm from back neckline, folded out bust darts, omitted centre back seam, omitted back waist darts, raised back neckline 1cm.

A good shift dress is trans-seasonal and I will be wearing my Jaywalk Shift with boots and tights for the next few months. It works well both ways.

Thanks to Tessuti Fabrics for a wonderful competition and encouraging this wonderful online sewing community. Good luck everyone!

So the big question is, pockets or no pockets?? 

L x