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:
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| 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:
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| 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:
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| 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:
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| 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!
