Completed Project: The Colette Parfait Maxi Dress
The Colette Parfait dress has always been one of my favourite patterns, so when I discovered that the lovely Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow made a Colette Parfait into a gorgeous maxi dress, I fell even more in love with the pattern and decided to make my own version. Thank you, Gillian, for inspiring me!
I have made two, regular length Parfait dresses, both of which I love dearly:
My second, red version, earned me a place in Colette’s ‘Featured Seamstress’ hall of fame in 2011!
This time I wanted a nice summery print, so I chose this Alexander Henry ‘Sparrow’ pink and brown fabric, and I needed 3.5 metres of it which was rather pricey at £40, but I am thrilled with the dress so it was definitely worth it. I’m more than happy to use quilting cotton for some dresses – I like the fact that it is a little bit more sturdy and hardwearing than your average dressmaking fabric. Plus, there is such a wonderful variety of tempting prints out there!
The Colette Parfait Maxi Dress
The pattern alteration was pretty simple, and I let the width of the fabric dictate the width of the hem at the bottom of the dress. If I’d have just followed the lines of the original skirt pattern, I’d have been totally swamped! I’m 5’10” so I found I needed to add on an extra 24″ to get the right length for me. It is extra-long and comes below my ankle, but I like it that way. It preserves the option of me wearing heels underneath, although I’m pretty sure I’ll be mainly opting for my Birkenstocks!
A maxi maxi? Definitely getting my money’s worth out of 3.5m of fabric!
I needed to cut a larger size this time round, as the bust and midriff on my two older versions are too tight now that I’m a breastfeeding Mummy! This dress is a good choice for feeding though because of the otherwise-useless button straps (I say ‘otherwise useless’ because the button straps are a decorative feature of the dress: its main fastening is a side zipper). I used some really blingy sparkly buttons which had been in my Great Aunt’s button collection. I never thought I’d use them, ever, but most of my other buttons just seemed too muted by the busy print of the dress. You can’t really tell just how sparkly (aka tacky) these buttons are on these photos, but maybe that’s for the best!
Can you spot the three year old?!
It was my husband’s idea to get Little Tweedie in on the photo action…
I am really pleased with this (do I say that in every blog post?!), and am very much looking forward to wearing it when the weather gets warmer. It WILL get warmer.
One more front view…
…and the back view.
Thank you to my husband for being my photographer, and bonus points to Little Tweedie for photobombing nearly every single picture! Now, whilst we’re on the subject of photography, my last two blog posts included very dodgy camera photos of my finished projects, so whilst I had hubby’s help, I got him to take a better picture of each dress:
The Sis Boom Jamie Dress
The Serendipity Studios Monique Dress (a bit too tight!)
Hurray! Now, one last thing before I go: in light of the death of Google Reader, if you would like to follow us with Bloglovin’ then just click below!
See you all again soon!
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Very cute! All of them.
Thanks!
I love the maxi what a great idea, and you fabric choice is perfect
Thanks. Think I’ll make another at some point!
Pretty! I like it a lot as a maxi dress.
It does work well. Hope you are getting on ok!
I absolutely love the way the colours work together in this fabric – I think pale pink and chocolate brown is such an underused combination! It’s so fresh and pretty for when the warmer weather *does* roll around, aswell!
So nice to see the Sis Boom dress up close aswell – the ruching around the bust is so incredibly flattering! As is the length. Gorgeous!
Thanks lovely. I’m glad to have done the fabric justice, it is a pretty print! I actually took the Sis Boom dress up 4 inches since I blogged it! I’m happy with the length now though xxx
These are great! I think the summer of the maxi is in my future- youve inspired me.
For some reason maxi dresses always seem more comfy! I need more.
All such pretty dresses. I love Maxis and almost every skirt and dress I make ends up long.
Maxis are great for summer. As long as it doesn’t rain of course!
ooh, love the maxi-length! you are making me wish for summer (as it is snowing and blowing here right now…)!
I refuse to sew winter stuff at the moment. I’m in a summer mindset!
You are rocking the maxi, lovely! What a fab make!
Thanks! Can’t wait to wear it. It’s the first weekend of spring here, but we have snow! How lame is that!!!
Adorable! I love this dress
Thanks loads 🙂
Ooh, I love this in a maxi length! And the print is just gorgeous!
Thanks! Was a bit worried about how this print would work on a maxi, but I think it turned out ok! 🙂