Completed Project: The Sew Serendipity Monique Dress

Is anyone as fed up with British winter as I am?!  It’s cold and miserable, and I am longing for spring and summer (when, let’s face it, it will probably still be cold and miserable), so I decided to sew myself a ridiculously summery dress that I can really only imagine wearing on a hot sunny day when the skies are blue: Meet my Sew Serendipity Studios Monique dress:

The Monique Dress

This pattern actually belongs to my excellent friend and co-blogger Julia.  I borrowed it a rather long time ago, so I’m glad I finally got around to making it!  Julia has made two versions of this dress (to my knowledge), and they are both really cute.  I can only find a photo of one of them, her ‘Turkish Delight’ version:

Julia’s ‘Turkish Delight’ Monique dress

So pretty!  I had this bright yellow polka dot fabric in my stash, bought at the same time as the khaki green fabric I used for the Sis Boom Jamie dress, and half a metre of floral contrast, so I thought I’d stick with that polka-dot-floral-contrast theme.

Polka dot dresses with floral contrast!

The dress was simple enough to make, although I should have lined it because the yellow fabric is quite sheer!  As a result the neckline facing is visible, as is my underwear… wearing a slip underneath is absolutely essential!

Dress with slip worn underneath

The one bad thing about this dress?  It’s too small.  It will zip up, but that doesn’t mean it fits.  I cut a medium, going by my pre-pregnancy sizing (pregnancy number two, that is!), but I think to be comfortable (i.e. able to breathe) I need a large.  Breastfeeding hasn’t helped as I’m much larger in the chest department than ever, and it’s across the bust where this dress is fitted.  Obviously I should have made a toile, but I did not.  Bad seamstress.  Maybe this will fit better at some point in the future, when I’ve stopped breastfeeding…. but in the meantime I’m just going to go right ahead and trace out new pattern pieces in a large!  Comfort is essential to me!

Another photo

It does go perfectly with my yellow polka dot wedges, though, which I just about managed to get in a photo!  I apologise for poor photo quality – I had to take them myself on my phone as husband was at work.  I will do better for my next post, I promise.

Yellow wedges!