When I wore my beautiful polka dot Vivien of Holloway dress to Nic's graduation a few weeks ago I was struck again by how awesome polka dots are and I resolved to wear that dress more often. I will do that but, to be fair, a halterneck dress with a boned bodice is not your most practical for everyday wear. When I saw Sew Busy Lizzy's polka dot Cambie dress I was hit with a violent case of LOADS. That dress is FIT. The only issue for me is that I'm Irish. I have the corresponding Irish Skin (very pale) and the corresponding Irish Face (very round) so I knew I couldn't carry it off. Sigh. So anyway, the TL:DR of this is:
I MADE A POLKA DOT CAMBIE DRESS AND I LIKE IT
The shoulder there on the left, it does fit. I'm just standing a bit weirdly here...
Yes, yes. I know. But still - I'm not done with Cambie yet even if this is version 4. It's joyful to sew and dammit, it's such a cute and versatile pattern! The red polka dot cotton came from my lovely local fabric shop, Royal Fabrics. It's quite weighty and crisp and in the interests of honesty, I should say that it's not exactly what I was after (it's more tomato red than pillarbox red) but I enjoy the overall effect and it was extremely pleasant to sew with. It's lined with some lightweight cream cotton lawn I had in my stash.
Oooh yeah pockets, that's right. Can you believe I was considering not putting the pockets in? Thankfully I woke up from my idiot nap and put them in...
No real notes on the construction. Tasia's instructions are so excellent and the dress came together really easily in a matter of hours. The only thing I did contrary to the instructions was not to apply interfacing to the lining waistband as well as the outer waistband. I did this with my first Cambie dress and it proved too bulky to get the invisible zipper up over all the layers - the zipper stuck and when I was repairing it my sewing machine jammed and I had to cut the dress out of it! A tragic mending accident but at least one I have learned from. If I were making the dress with more drapey fabric I'd stick with the instructions but for this kind of cotton I don't think it's the best idea.
Back view. I don't usually do this....
As I said earlier, I'm definitely not done with Cambie. I have more versions planned for future projects, it's a very versatile pattern. I'm really pleased with this make and I know I'll wear it a lot - it's fun and flirty. And yes, I know that wearing this in public will result in people (mainly men in vans) being all "Haaa! Minnie Mouse LOL" but that's really okay. There are worse people I could be compared with. I did think about really going for the Minnie look by wearing this with yellow shoes but in the end I couldn't resist my favourite shoes. I know you all are probably totally sick of seeing these cherry shoes on here but I really do love them. Nic and I are rewatching Sex and The City at the moment and the other night we watched the S6 episode A Woman's Right To Shoes and Nic cracked a joke about what would I do if someone stole a pair of my shoes and I immediately thought of how gutted I would be if someone stole these! I know. What a loser, right?!
Anyway, yes. Next up on the sewing table is more polka dots... but not a Cambie this time...
I bought this pattern on sale in Fancy Silk Stores when I was in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I picked up some beautiful navy polka dot cotton lawn to make it with. I'm thinking of going with View C but I haven't totally decided yet. Hopefully whichever version I make I can be as totally nonchalant as the broad in the yellow dress when I'm wearing it.
Who am I kidding. As if this IRISH FACE could ever do elegantly nonchalant:
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