“My version” of the Chloe Dress

I have actually been doing a little sewing! I know, I know with all the ranting that's been going on hard to believe right?!

First let me say that this is my "interpretation" of the Chloe dress. There are certain style elements in the original dress that I admired and wanted to incorporate into my version...but the original is sleeveless...and as much as I love my body, I love it best with some sleeves covering my fantabolious flabby biceps! *LOL*

So the things I admire:
~the different colored/fabric in the waistline section
~the flare skirt
~the three different colors and how they were incorporated into the dress.

However, due to my wardrobing needs, I needed to take those points and "corporatize" them. So here is my version of the Chloe dress:


Fabric:
1/2 yard of red linen from FM of course!

1/2 yard of red/black polka dot linen (this has been in the fabric collection for forever - the tag said 4 yards of linen from Cloth World ~ they have been out of business for a minute!)

1/2 yard of black linen - recent purchase from Metro Textiles. The rest will be used for the St. John's knock-off dress which is up next.

Construction Details:
I used the pieces that I drafted for my version of the Chanel dress. So this was a lay down, cut out and sew adventure. The kind that I like best! *smile*

The two fabrics that I chose for the top and middle section seem to be the same shade of red but there is a slight difference between the red for the top and the red in the middle section...not enough to make you go uggghhhh, what was she thinking, but enough so that the original concept of the dress is preserved.

I added a lining to just the bottom portion of the skirt ~ below the waistband. I don't really like an all lined dress during the steamy days of summer and the linen on the bottom of the skirt is a lot more lightweight than I originally thought it was. So a lining was needed for opacity.

I also added bias binding to the neckline of the dress. The dress originally had a front and back facing but I haven't used them in some time since almost every other version I've made of this dress has had a full lining added to it. And I could only locate the back facing in the pattern folder. It would have been easy enough to draft a front facing but bias binding is so much cleaner so I opted to go with that method instead.

There are also some issues with my invisible zipper. I was trying to follow Els invisible zipper directions in her post on The Sewing Divas and I must have missed a step somewhere. I think in my quest to make sure that the different sections lined up in the back perfectly that I concentrated more on lining them up than following the directions. I will try them again on a solid colored dress or skirt because I really want to become proficient using her directions.

Other than that this was a pretty straightforward dress to make. In my opinion what makes it interesting is the different colored waistband. It will be perfect for the 100 plus degree day we are anticipating in NYC tomorrow. It will also work well for the all day meeting at work tomorrow. But most importantly, I won't be decked out all in black, I will be wearing a little color!

So, the first dress on the list is completed. One outfit down and eight more to go!