Rooibos.

The Rooibos dress from Colette Patterns is finally finished! This dress was sort of a journey and luckily it has a happy ending because there were moments when I wasn't sure, let me just tell you. Oh, my.  So first my mom buys me the pattern and I have to wait impatiently for it to come in the mail. Then it comes in the mail, yea! Then I consider using this grey fabric that I have tons of, I mean tons! I can't remember why I bought so much of the mystery grey because it's been in my fabric stash since before there was even a stash.  Then after reading the instruction and different things on line I decide that this fabric is too flimsy. That was true I do think it would have not been a good choice but that also allowed me to go fabric shopping... I know I've got some problems.

The Jacket was a bday gift from my Aunt. It
was an accident but it matches really nicely.

No where in the pattern does it say you should use a solid, it says things like use suiting and wool it does not say "DO NOT USE A PLAID AS THIS WILL BE SO HARD." it should have. Maybe they thought that was obvious (the pattern is an intermediate after all). What did I choose? Plaid, of course! Then I cut out the pattern and realized there were like a million pieces (really a million) and do you know how hard it is for a not expert sewist to match that much plaid? Well, it's really hard, really, really hard.  If you were to inspect the dress you would find that it doesn't really match up at all but miracle of miracle it isn't very noticeable.

The dress took me forever not because it was hard but because I am slow and the moving of the sewing machine from table to floor for every meal is such a pain. If I hadn't had celebration sunday I don't know if it would be done now (to be honest there are a couple of things on it I still need to fix so maybe it isn't really done). But it wasn't hard. Again, Collette's instructions were clear and easy to follow.  The most frustrating part was making my own piping which was only frustrating because it was bulkier then I wanted. I usually get the best advice from the girls at Jo-Anns but this time they led me astray. (To be fair it wasn't the two ladies that usually help it was someone else and I don't think she actually knew what she was talking about and was just pretending, which was frustrating later on. She also had me buy way too much fabric).

The bolero pattern. Aren't they cute?

I also made the bolero to go with it. On the bolero I used some of the grey fabric. It didn't even make a dent in the yardage but it looks good. It's a vintage pattern from             and other then the fact that I had to sew sixteen darts, was surprisingly easy, considering my experiment with my easter dress was not so good. This bolero is reversible and I made it to go with this dress specifically because the dress is sleeveless. I thought I'd wear it grey side out but as it turns out that was so blah it sort of just blended in and the purple side looked great. The bolero covered up too much of the dress especially the cute neck line detailing but then I got the idea to bend back the corners and sort of make lapels and that looked so cute! "I love it when a plan comes together" (name that movie). I held the lapels in place with cute vintage pins and love how the pointy corners echo the pointy corners of the neck line.

On celebration sunday I put my hair in curlers but I could not get it to dry even with a blower. So I ended up taking each roller out and using the curling iron. The top of my hair looked crazy so I solved that by wearing my hat. The hat looked good, I think. I don't know if I would have ever been brave enough to wear it to church so I'm kind of glad the curlers made my hair crazy. I got the nicest compliments all Sunday especially from the older people. I imagine it brought back good memories of back when every one wore hats. I just felt so feminine with the dress and the hat. I think I looked rather smart. And, I think there are lots of options with this dress. It could be worn with a long sleeved purple shirt and tall boots for more of a relaxed look, sort of british. What do you think as a jumper with out the bolero for a more casual look?

Brian in his suit. Don't we just scream "Mad Men"?

So, all in all I'm pleased with it. Someone told me I "looked out of time." meaning not harried, but vintage. I don't know if they meant it as a compliment but I took it that way. I love the vintage look it feels very good on me. Rooibos isn't a vintage pattern but lends itself to that style quite nicely. Of course the vintage inspired bolero and actual vintage shoes and hat helped I'm sure.

Found the price for these shoes. $6 at an Antique
shop in MD. That is crazy!

Close up of the neckline details. Also the pins
Both really cheap from antique shops.

close up of the pocket and hand stitching.