Sunday 17 May 2015

Smart Casual or Girly? A Polka Dot Coco!



Here it is finally. My latest Coco in a Polka Dot Fabric. It is not perfect, but I love it.

 


Pattern: Tilly and the Button Coco Dress. This is already my second version of this pattern and this time I made the dress with a fold-under neckline and three-quarter length sleeves.

I've added again two long darts to take out all this extra fabric that would otherwise be pooling in my swayback.   

Fabric: Ponte Jersey Knit that I bought in Goldhawk Road, London. It is slightly textured and unluckily has not much stretch. Do you always test die stretch of your knit before cutting out? I keep forgetting. Because this jersey has hardly any stretch it would have been better to use it as a woven.

 

Fitting: I didn’t do any additional fitting this time (for fitting details of my first version please have a look here).  However, because the fabric is not very stretchy one fitting issue has arisen (or is more pronounced than in my previous version). The shoulder/armhole seam does not hit my shoulder. It causes the drag lines in the sleeves. So for my next version I have to do a broad shoulder adjustment by adding to the front and back shoulder/armhole. Otherwise I would say the fit is spot on :)

Dr. Daniela :)

I love the silhouette of the dress that is so pronounced with this rather stiff fabric. The black polka dots on white background make the dress look very classy. So classy that I decided to wear it for my graduation ceremony which took place in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Thanks to the polka dots my family which was sitting on the upper stalls had me in good view all times.


I've spent some time the last couple of weeks, trying to figure out what kind of cardigans I should wear with my dresses. I have a lot of cropped and knitted ones that don’t go with such an A-line dress. I didn’t want to wear a black cardigan with this dress, as blacks makes me look really pale. But I think this long rose cardigan paired with a bow belt and rose shoes makes the dress look really girly. Which is the style I like :)


Good news: I'm currently spending more time on my wedding dress (I've forbidden myself to sew anything else!). I've taken a couple of pictures of my progress - which is rather slow. There are so many decisions to make and I tend to procrastinate a bit. But I'm back on track and will give you an update in my next post!

27 comments:

  1. Love that dress! And also congratulations on graduating from Imperial - I did my bsc(hons) there, very impressed by doctorate!

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    1. Thank you Rebecca! I'm amazed that you realised that I graduated from Imperial :) But I guess you had your moment on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall as well :)

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    2. Yes but not in such a colourful gown :-) really well done, hope you got to celebrate in style

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  2. I love both the dressed up and dressed down versions. And share your need for back darts in dresses!

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    1. Thank you :) So far I keep wearing the dress with the pink cardigan. My favorite version. It is really amazing how much back darts can improve the fit in a sway back.

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  3. What a versatile dress. It looks great as a casual item as well as being dressed up. I love how you paired it with the pink cardigan.

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    1. Thanks Claire. I'm wearing the dress/cardigan version once a week now, haha. Love it so much.

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  4. Love it! I really like the combination with belt & cardi, so pretty!! And I'm digging your shoes :)

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    1. Thanks Charlie. I'm usually not wearing belts but I've seen a couple fashion bloggers wearing long cardigans with a belt. So I had to try it myself. The shoes are from the German brand Tiggers.

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  5. Congratulations on the graduation ;o) I love the dress in the outfit with the rose cardigan, grey tights and cute shoes.

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    1. Thanks so much! The grey tights are a new addition to my wardrobe as I try to avoid black at the moment. Very difficult.

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  6. So cute! I love how you styled it with the long cardi. And those shoes!! Congratulations on your graduation, Dr. Daniela!

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    1. Thanks Gail. I was just having a look into my PhD thesis the other day. So scary. I'm afraid I will find typing mistakes, haha.

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  7. Ha! This is the first time I've seen a doctoral hood successfully used as an accessory in a sewing blog. Makes me want to dust mine off and get it out! Congratulations to you for earning your doctorate and for the lovely dress.

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    1. Hihi that made me actually laugh! Maybe I have started a trend :)
      Get your out then and take a couple of pictures! Then it will be a new trend!
      Thank you Debera.

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  8. lovely dress and it can be both smart casual and girly!
    congratulation on you doctoral!!!

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    1. Thank you Ida. I wonder how the dress would look with a blazer?! Maybe it's time that I make one to try it out.

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  9. Oooh, I really like it! The fabric may not be as stretchy as it ideally should be, but it looks lovely. Congratulations on your graduation too!

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    1. Thanks Ruth. I'm actually a bit fed up with jerseys at the moment, because I forgot again to check the stretch. I made a lovely pink Bronte Top that is too SMALL :( I would need arms as thin as matches to be able to wear it. Next time, I will check!

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  10. This is such a cute dress. I've had this pattern for a while now but just can't seem to the find the right fabric to use for it, well done. And congratulations on your graduation too.

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    1. Thank you Betty. I hope you are going to find the right fabric soon and I can recommend to test the stretch first :)

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  11. gorgeous dress! And congrats on the graduation! I like how you paired it with the cardi - beautiful!

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  12. Congratulations on your graduation, what an amazing achievement! Your coco dress looks gorgeous too, especially paired with the long, pink cardigan. Long cardigans never seem to look right on me so I always envy those who look lovely in them!

    I must admit I never tested the stretch of the interlock knits I used recently for my two Cocos (woops!) but I did find them both fairly stretchy for a knit which is meant to be quite low stretch. Although your fabric was stiffer than you expected I think the extra structure gives the dress a really pretty shape.

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  13. I really love your dress!
    It looks so great

    kind regards from Germany
    Katrin

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  14. Hi, I know this is an old post but I came across your dress and LOVED it. The nicest version of a coco dress I have seen.
    In particular I like the neckline. I feel that in my coco top the neckline is way too wide. Can you explain what you did with the neck line to make it sit so beautifully:)
    Hannah

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    1. Hi Hannah, thanks for your comment :) I didn't do anything special to the neckline. As recommended by Tilly, I used some fusible hemming tape (the one to hem trousers) to first fuse the neckline down. The width of my hemming tape is 1/4" so that's what I used as a guide for folding the neckline in. I think it might have "helped" a lot that my fabric was not very stretchy. I've made a foxy Coco with some sweater fabric and there is neckline is a bit wider as well. Sorry I can't give any good advice. But good luck with your next Coco!

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  15. Came really hard to these pics!

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