laurel | Peneloping

Drop-waist dress

dress: self-made // shoes: Swedish Hasbeens // watch: Fossil

So Boston is currently 20F and buried in snow. Which is why I’m pretty happy that my flight was canceled and I got to stay in sunny 70F California for two extra days! To celebrate, we took a beach trip to Baker Beach to hang with the Golden Gate and soak in the sun before heading back to snowy purgatory. (Yes, all you people that said I would get tired of the snow, you were right. Let’s move along now.)

I also got to take my new drop-waisted dress out for a spin! If you follow me on Pinterest you might have noticed the recent influx of drop-waisted dresses on my Sewing Inspiration board and I was so excited when vacation started and I actually had time to figure out how to make one!

I had this navy rayon challis planned for another project but it seemed perfect so I snagged it for this project. In the interest of using patterns I already owned, I chose to use Colette’s Laurel dress as the base. If you’re feeling less adventurous, Republique du Chiffon’s Viviane dress looks pretty cute. It was a pretty simple pattern hack though! I basically just cut out the the bodice front and back as indicated but shortened by about 8-10″ (I did some adjusting so I’m not totally sure of the exact amount I hacked off, and this will depend on your height and how low on the waist you want the skirt to sit). I was also basing my dress mostly on this one, so I cut the sleeves a little wider than the pattern and extended it to 3/4 sleeve length and just enclosed some elastic in the sleeve hem before sewing the sides of the sleeves together.

Then I just gathered two rectangles and attached it as the skirt. Since it’s a pretty loose dress, I didn’t need to add a zipper or anything. I also wanted included a back slit so I just folded the center edge over twice on either side, sewed it down, and then sewed the two pieces together from where the slit ends to the bottom, letting the open bit overlap a bit. Then I attached a small decorative (read: non-functional) button on top that sits over where the top neckline thing attaches. If that makes no sense, let me know and I’m happy to draw a diagram.

In other news, meet my new foot babbies! My mum got them for me for Chreestmas and I basically never want to take them off. They’re a tiny bit ridiculous but four inch heels that feel like flats? With a bow?? Yes please.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and got to relax at least a little! Mine was a bit crazy but filled with tons of fun and fambly and kittens. I got to take one last nap with the kittehs yesterday and now I’m dragging my feet and trying to think of legitimate ways to avoid getting on that plane tomorrow morning.

dress: self-made, pattern here // tights: Modcloth // glasses: Bonlook // shoes: Seychelles // belt: thrifted

I was kind of ambivalent about this pattern at first. I wasn’t sure how it would look on me and I didn’t really have any ideas that were screaming out to me to be made. But then I decided I was making things too complicated, trying to think of cute sleeves to add or fun trims to try. Why not keep things simple and jazz it up with a cute floral print?

The pattern itself fit me decently well, except for the usual armpit area issues that I tend to have with Colette patterns. I kind of suspected that might be the case though, and just slicing off about an inch of the lower arm-hole area was enough to fix the fit issue. Seriously though, do I have huge armpits? I also took in the sides a bit.

I picked this fabric up from a discount fabric store back home ages ago and it’s just been sitting around waiting for the perfect project. It’s a deliciously soft rayon challis that was a bit difficult to sew but Laurel is such a straightforward pattern that it wasn’t too much of a headache. I think I somehow got away with only using one 60″ wide yard for this dress.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, although it does look a bit church-lady-ish without a belt. I was playing around with the idea of adding three tucks or pleats on either side of the waist, right under the bust but haven’t gotten around to it yet. For now I love the way it looks belted.

This dress actually took me way longer than it should have due to sheer laziness. I’d sewn up one sleeve to the arm hole to check the fit and found it way too tight, but the sheer prospect of ripping that 10″ seam was just so daunting that I threw the whole thing under the bed for three weeks. Realistically this project should take an hour or two, tops. Definitely a great project for a beginner!

I want to do another one in lace. And one with some sort of front bib or neckline trim detail! Ooh and pockets!

PS I recently discovered Kollabora! As much as I love Burdastyle and Ravelry, it’s so nice to have one place where I can post all my rando craft projects! You can find me here.

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Sun drop

A floral Laurel