Victory Patterns Chloe Dress

I bought the Chloe Dress from Indie Stitches so long ago. I even bought fabric for it and traced out the pieces months ago. Finally, Chloe is finished and she was well worth the wait, imo. Chloe is a princess seamed shift dress with front welt pockets and options for lining and cap sleeves.

 

I made version 1 (sleeveless and lined) in a size 6 from the shoulder/chest grading to a size 10 from the waist down. The original fabric I bought for the dress is a cream, yellow, pink and blue plaid tweed wool from The Fabrics Store. it was on sale for $6 so I bought 3 metres. I love it and there is a heap left. I might see a matching jacket in my future. Unfortunately the plaid photographed a little strangely - sorry!

For the lining I thought that the left over mustard from my Ava jacket would work perfectly. Unfortunately I didn't have quite as much left as I thought so I used the mustard for the back and leftovers from my Belcara blouse for the front. For the neckline, sleeves and pocket trimmings I used some blue and white floral scraps. This was a gamble, do plaid and floral go together? Tim suggested the left blue wool from my latest Betsy instead. I decided  to risk the floral and I actually really like it. I think the trim makes the dress abit more casual, which I like.

I used the instructions only as a guide. If you want to be hand held through the sewing you might find them lacking. For example there was no suggestions of when and what seams you might like to finish along the way.

I inserted the lining and zipper a little differently than suggested. I made the dress shell and the dress lining completely, sandwiched and basted them together, and then treated them as one when adding the zipper and trims. This worked perfectly. I still have to add a dress hook at the top but I couldn't wait to wear it.

I love how the dress turned out. The front is a little roomy around the stomach area but the back is perfect and I think it looks great.  This is a winter version but I think it will look good without the longsleeves and tights in spring as well. I will definitely make more Chloe's! A few unlined cotton shifts will be great for summer work dresses.  I'll see if I use the front pockets, but if not I might exclude them in the future (shock horror!). I think they are super cute, but they bulge and make me feel like I'm storing a baby kangaroo in there.