The Trans-seasonal International Dress of Friendship

I wasn't kidding about my desire to make something colorful and patterned after all that Whiteness of The Shirt.  Saturday morning I got started on a  project that's been in my mind for a long, long time.

This is a dress sewn by an American using English fabric given as a gift by a Canadian originally from South America!  Behold, Cambie #3:

with Frye Corrina Campus Wedge

If you've been reading for a while, you may remember that my dear friend Andrea came to visit last June, and when she did she brought me a very generous and lovely gift of two meters of Liberty lawn in Landis B.  This print is really incredible - it looks interestingly mottled from a distance, but up close, you see that there's an architectural theme:

Andrea chose this for me because she knows I'm interested in architecture.  This print came in a few different colorways, but this one is perfect for me - these colors go with so many things in my closet and are really perfect for any season.  I made a few different outfits to demonstrate.  Above was Summer, worn on its own with some sky-scraping Frye sandals.  Below is a look I'm hoping to be wearing very soon for Spring:

with Frye Carson Harness flats and an old green jacket I just love

But the reality is that I'll probably have to wear it this way for a while longer, a la Fall and Winter:

with Frye Fiona Moc oxfords, tights and my Exeter sweater

(Do you notice a shoe theme?)

The fabric also goes very nicely with these tourmaline earrings I made a few years ago:

hand-formed and hand-wrapped

This fabric was really interesting to work with.  It is so smooth and silky, and it must be quite tightly woven, because I could hear every needle prick going through!    Construction-wise, I made this one mostly like my first Cambie.  Cambies number 1 and number 2 were really muslins for this version - this fabric was so precious I wanted to be sure I was making the right size before cutting into it.  My first Cambie was a size 6 with no alterations, and at the time I felt it was a little loose.  So number two was a size 4 - it looks great on, but is really tighter than is comfortable for me.  The other day before cutting this dress out, I slipped on my blue Cambie again and decided that is the fit I really prefer, so this one is a straight size 6.  Really the only thing I did differently was to "unsweeten" it by making the neckline straight, and to add some fusible tricot along that edge to help with the flaring I was getting on my previous two versions.  I do think that I'll need to do a neckline adjustment in the future, although I'm probably the only one who notices the slight gape.

This time around, I decided to get a "fancy" zipper - and by fancy, I mean twice as expensive as the ones I usually buy.  Sadly, the quality ended up not being commensurate with the price - it was very stiff, and I was never able to correct the way the ends diverged from each other:

It's even too far apart to close that gap with a hook and eye!  Good color match though!  And again, no one will notice but me.  At least it's even, so it almost looks like a design feature.

I tried again to do a narrow rolled hem on my lining - with limited success!

Quite a steep learning curve with that little foot!

But despite these little flaws, I'm in love with my new dress and hope to wear it a lot.  Thank you again, Andrea, for this amazing gift!