A couple of Lou Lou's!

So a few weeks ago English Girl At home launched her new pattern the Lou Lou dress. As soon as I saw it I knew I had the perfect cotton crinkle look broderie anglais in my stash to use with a contrasting lining. Imagine my excitement when she ran a competition for the pattern, and imagine even greater excitement when I won a copy!!!! There are three versions included in the pattern and even the pattern illustrations are wonderful!

  The pattern is actually made for really drapey fabrics, but I'm just not a really drapey fabric type of person so I just kept my fingers crossed that my fabric choice would work. I found a wonderful midnight blue muslin to use as my contrasting lining and decided to go for view A (the one without the pleat). The pattern has no darts, zips, or fastening and so is made to be loose fitting - not for everyone perhaps but I really like this kind of look. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow with fantastic illustrations. I had not made a fully lined dress before and had not used this method for finishing the shoulders, but was able to understand what I had to do with no problem. It is a really quick make and the finish is nice and neat. My only gripe would be the lack of pockets - I feel lost without pockets!

   I rushed to finish making the dress while my parents in law were visiting so that we could take photos at some lavender fields we had planned to visit - sadly it was wet, cold and windy - no way was I taking my coat off!!!!

 Finally today the weather was good, I was not working and we had a little time to take some piccies!

  I know that perhaps my fabric choice and colour might not be to everyone's taste but I love this dress! I have worn it on several days and it is very comfortable but I think looks like I have made a bit of an effort without being too dressy. I can see how you could make it really special with the right fabric.

  I had a small amount of fabric left over and decided to make a top. It is a little shorter than I would normally wear but I actually like the sightly cropped boxy look worn with cropped skinny jeans - perfect for work!

The lining peeks out a tiny bit but you can't really see it with the dark trousers.

  It seems like everyone has broken up from school - we have three more LONG days before my little people finish for the year! I am crazy buzy with work and have a holiday to get ready for so its gonna be busy! I get my overlocker back on Wednesday so hopefully I can squeeze in a teeny bit of sewing.......

     Thanks for stopping by!

               Su xx