Style Macaron dress for winter

Even if it has short sleeves, the Macaron dress is versatile for the autumn/winter months. I've made mine with a corduroy fabric which has more body. Here is my 'winterized' version:

Boots (Airstep), shrug (Esprit - this is basically a tube with an opening in the middle) and a shawl:


 

I'm taking a few days off from blogging - London is waiting!

The finished Macaron dress

Pattern: 'Macaron dress' from Colette patterns

Fabric: soft corduroy
I made just a few adjustments, after making several muslins version 1 here, version 2 here and version 3 here I decided to cut size 4 except for the top part of the bodice, the grey parts which are size 2. Plus, I lengthened the skirt by 7 cm (approx. 3 inches)
The fit turned out great. The shoulder darts make the fit of the top much better. (Why don't use modern patterns shoulder darts anymore?...) Love the shape of the skirt! It is slightly smaller at the hem and the stiffness of the corduroy is ideal to accentuate that. The instruction booklet is clear (as always with Colette patterns). The pockets are inserted in the outer folds in a really interesting way. When you are sewing the instructions are easy to follow though. I used a bright pink bias band to finish the seams and the hem on the inside and a leftover from my grey Jasmine blouse for the facings and the pockets.

The colors are in reality like this:

Macaron dress in progress

Started making the Macaron dress! I always cut single layers because I find it a more precise way of cutting the pieces. (At the same time this is the part of sewing I hate most...) The two fabrics looks great together and the instruction booklet is clear. I decided to use bias band to finish the sleeves rather than to cut two layers. It worked great! Catchstitched it on the wrong side. The construction of the pocket is interesting, I have to read everything twice to make sure it turns out okay...

Seam finishing of sleeves:











My sewing assistant - not disturbed by the sound of the sewing machine and the radio:

Macaron muslin - part 3.

Third and final muslin of my Macaron dress! To make things easier I amputated the bodice of my size 4 muslin and attached it to the yoke and upper part of my size 2 muslin. And voila, it resulted in the (almost) perfect fit! Look, the yoke looks flat and the bodice isn't tight anymore:

 



The bulk on the upper back is gone now and the bust dart sits at the right place:
(new size 2/4 (left) size 2 (right))

        

There is some room under the busts, but it is not annoying and this dress doesn't have a skin-tight fit.
If you look carefully you can observe that the line where the the midriff band and bodice meet goes slightly upwards towards the front in the right picture and has a slightly curved downwards line in the left picture.
I need to cut a small stroke of fabric at the bottom of the bodice in the front to straighten the curved line and make it look horizontal. This will help to flat out the small bulk under the busts below:

Macaron muslin part 2.

Second attempt... I've cut size 4 now. The only adjustment was lengthening the bodice by 2 cm. The results are not perfect, but I have an idea how to make the third one... This time I left some extra fabric at the sleeve but I like the original length better. The pictures:

  




Obviously, the length adjustment of the bodice is unnecessary, so I took out the extra length (picture on the right) and it already looks better. Especially the fit around the midriff:



    

Still, it looked like the front yoke was too wide. Let's take a look at the size 2 again:
(size 2 pics left and size 4 right)
- the yoke looks much better on the left (size 2) I also like the look of a shorter front yoke (the proportions are just better)
- around the bust the size 4 has more ease
- but under the bust (where the darts are) I'm not sure. I think this is going to be size 4 as well as the waistband. I really need the width at that point! Size 3 is just skin-tight...



    

Of course, I'm going to make a third muslin where I'm going to cut size 2 at the top yoke and widen it down to size 4. Hopefully will all my efforts result in a perfect fit!

Macaron muslin part 1.

As for my Ceylon dress I used a size 2 pattern, and for the Jasmineblouse even the size 0 pattern I thought it would be the same with the Macaron. Strangely, this size 2 muslin is just too tight and too short everywhere!

- I can get my head through the opening which seems rather small, so that's good.
- I really like the back darts, they make the fit so much better! You usually see them on vintage patterns, but not on modern patterns. I wonder why...
- The fit around the shoulders and the upper part of the bodice is just right, from the side it seems to have enough just ease for me
- Even less ease on the lower parts...
 I looove the fit of the upper yoke around the above the bust area! As you can see here the bust dart is way too high, needs to be lowered by +/- 2 cm

Alterations:
- I'm going to make a size 4 muslin to see whether the bust dart gets lower and the fit of the midriff part gets better.
- I think the upper yoke of the bodice is just right, it shouldn't be too roomy. (Size 4 might be just a tad better though I'm not sure)
- Probably, at the end I just need to use size 4 (or even 6) for the lower part and size 2 for the upper part of the bodice
- As usually I didn't make a skirt muslin, I just assume the fit of that will be OK. As I look at Macaron dresses on the internet I think I definitely need to lengthen the skirt to have that 'just above the knee' length I prefer.

I really like the fit of this Macaron dress! She lenghtened the midriff band by 1 inch and the skirt by 3.5 inches.

At last I decided to get a remote shutter for my camera, Making pictures of myself is so much easier now! I can't wait to finish this dress and make great pics which are not blurry.



      

Next up...

Next up is a fall version of the Colette Macaron dress! I've bought a grey and a plum-pink colored ribcord fabric. First up to the muslin, of course!