This one has taken me a while to get to blogging, but time to show you my second attempt at sewing Tilly and the Buttons’ Cleo Dress Kit. This time I ordered the dark denim kit, and I have to say, I am super pleased with the results. The fabric was a lovely quality, although I have to confess not quite the color I expected. From my perspective it is more of a dark navy than black, and I think Tilly has updated her kit description accordingly. It was a pleasure to cut and sew and I think the finished dress will hold up well.
I cut the same size as I did on my last Cleo dress, which still works well for me. The skirt is definitely too big, but very easy to take in on completion, so my strategy is just to sew it off and then chop off a good 3cm on each side seam with the overlocker. It’s no couture technique but it’s been suiting me just fine!
I couldn’t believe it this time that I yet again had trouble with the facing. On my last Cleo, I’d accidentally forgotten that there’d been a printing mistake in the first pattern and had cut the wrong facing. This time I had all the right pieces, I just forgot it in my cutting layout and then didn’t have enough fabric left to cut the front facing. So frustrating! However, such challenges are a good opportunity to exercise creativity and resourcefulness. I decided to rummage through my fat quarter stash and see if I could find something funky that I could use as a facing instead. In the end I found some black fabric with different coloured spots – the final result has actually been really cool and it makes me smile every time I see it! At least I know my dark denim Cleo is definitely one of a kind! Maybe third time is a charm on this facing? Who knows!
Saying that I’m not 100% sure I will make a third Cleo. I seem to love making them more than I actually wear them. For me, they’re definitely not something I could wear to the office, so they are limited to weekend wear. What can I say, sometimes on weekends I just want to pull on my jeans and not bother with tights and finding a co-ordinating t-shirt. I’m thinking that might change in the summer though where the Cleo will be nice to wear out and about on weekends. I’ll let you know!
Amy's Atelier 