Sew Colette 2.0.: My Third Macaron

The second pattern of the Sew Colette 2.0. sew along was the Macaron, one of my ultimate favorites. You don't believe it? I've already made it twice and the first one was one of my first successful projects, one of those that make you say: "Wow, I'm really learning something great here".

For my third version I wanted to try something a little different and I decided to add a peter pan collar. I think I won't stop until every garment in my wardrobe has a collar and I'll finally look undoubtedly  like a first toddler.
My plan was to make a pointy collar, but decided for a curved one in order not to clash too much with the sweetheart lines of the bodice.

I'm very happy I decided to make a muslin for this dress, not having touched this pattern for almost two years and being aware that my previous versions had some minor fit issues. I think I had idealized this pattern quite a bit, because it was less smooth to work with than I remembered.

First of all: the fit is kind of weird, definitely different than what I'm used with Colette Patterns. In particular, the waist is unbelievably small; I usually have to grade down at the waist or use the same size I use for the bust, but this time I went from a size 4 for the top part to a size 8 for the waist and skirt portion and it was still very snug. I also had quite a few pieces not aligning, which forced me to trim excess fabric here and there; the worst effect of this was that one of the side edges of the zipper ended up being slanted (if that makes sense), so my zipper is a bit wonky.

I don't know if the pattern has been revised since (I own the first "edition", with the old artwork that I much prefer to the new one), or if I'm the only one who had this kind of problems.

Another issue I had, also mentioned by Rochelle, is how snug the neck opening is. Adding a collar and finishing the edge with bias tape doesn't help, I assure you. If you decide to add a collar, consider making some kind of keyhole wither in the front or in the back, I certainly regret not doing so, since I can't put this dress on or off if I'm wearing my glasses or if my hair is tied.

I also forgot that this dress is quite short, so instead of hemming it I finished the skirt edge with bias tape.

One last thing: can anybody explain to me why the midriff pieces are curved? Even notching and clipping, I couldn't make the seams lie perfectly nice and flat, as you can see in the photos.

Although making this dress wasn't a walk in the park, I like my new Macaron quite a bit. I'm not 100% satisfied with my fabric choices, because the black chiffon isn't as sheer as I would have wanted it to be and the printed cotton I used for the rest of the dress looks a bit cheap (but the print looks like a bunch of teeny tiny balloons and that makes me happy.). This chiffon was the most tempered, difficult fabric I've ever worked with (you can see I had some problems with the sleeve edges).
But I know I love the style of this dress, the sweetheart neckline, the hidden pockets, the shape of the skirt, and this time I have a collar for added cuteness, so I'm sure I'll wear this a lot.

Sew Colette 2.0.: Thai Hazel

Soo... here's my first entry for the Sew Colette 2.0. Sewalong!
My Hazel dress was made in a very special fabric. It was given to me by my boyfriend's father, who used to work for an oil company and travelled the world during the 70's and the 80's. He recently opened some storage boxes full of treasures from his travels and he was kind enough to give me some beautiful pieces of fabric he bought in Thailand over 30 years ago as a present. (Yes, pieceS plural, I have more of these gorgeous prints!)
EDIT: The fabric is actually from either Vietnam or Indonesia... Oops! (FAIL)

I was quite intimidated by this fabric, as I always am when fabrics are expensive or have sentimental value attached to them. What if I was going to mess up something that came from the other side of the world and was older than me???

Anyway, this fabric was too beautiful to stay hidden in my stash. The Hazel dress was the first pattern I associated with this fabric, I have no idea why, but once an idea gets stuck in my mind, it rarely goes away.

I'm very satisfied with the result, it's an easy, colourful dress, perfect for summer.
The "V" detail at the bust is not too noticeable, but I'm fine with that, the print is too busy to notice any detail anyway. Since the fabric had a beautiful border print, I used it for the hem.
The only modification I did was my usual lapped zipper (at this point I could avoid writing it, since I ALWAYS do it).