A Tropical Truffle!

Doesn’t this dress make you want to sip a colourful cocktail with a paper umbrella? It’s such a summer dress - unfortunately, it’s -1 degree today! Silly Canadian spring! 

This is the third of the patterns from the Colette Handbook, and probably the last of the  projects I’ll make for the Colette Sew-Along. I’m not enamoured of the last two patterns, and I have other things to work on! 

Still, I’m rather in love with this one. It’s my first fully-lined dress, and it fits beautifully! I finally bit the bullet and put in a zipper, which let me fit the bodice more snuggly. 

The dress has a little drape/ruffle/peplum thingy which makes everything feel a little more flirty. I like how softly it drapes in this fabric. 

Speaking of fabric, I got mine at a second hand store in Ottawa - About $3 for 3m! I’d been planning to use the same lovely periwinkle polkadot rayon that A Good Wardrobe used for her Truffle, but I chickened out. I wanted to finish on time, not get bogged down with slippery fabric! 

I’m not sure what this fabric is made of, or when it was made… It’s quite lightweight and has a great slubbed texture. The bright, bold print reminds me a little of my Grandma, who was 6 foot tall and wore fabulous custom-tailored clothes in big prints all through the 60’s and 70’s. She and my Grandpa toured the world and spent 2 years living in France after they retired - not bad for a teacher and minister! 

Back to the dress: 

• I put in an invisible zipper. It’s not perfect, but it’s darn good! 


• Because of the zipper, this dress is much snugger than the pull-over-the-head Peony’s I’ve been making. Snug, but not tight. It feels more like a party or date dress than a teaching dress!


• The bodice is lined with a white cotton bedsheet (which worked well for stiffness and opacity) and the skirt is lined with white lining!


• I lowered the horizontal bust dart, raised the waist, and added an inch to each strap so that they cover the bra better and won’t sag off my shoulder like my muslin does! 


• Thanks to advice from the lovely people in the Sew Colette Sew-Along, I tried spray starch on my lining fabric - and it was amazing!!! I’m totally convert. Thanks!

And that’s it! I love the pattern, and I’d definitely make it again with out a the ruffle… but I’m not sure how many ruffled dresses a girl can really have. I’m thinking two. So maybe I’ll still make the polkadot version? 

Happy sewing, everyone - or enjoy whatever it is that you do for fun!