Secret Pajamas: Striped Colette Moneta dress

After the busy time making my last dress (see my last post), I then had a period of about a month when there was no sewing or even thinking about it, because I had family visiting and lost my sewing room because it became a spare room instead. An amazing time, but no sewing involved!

When I got my sewing room back, I wanted to sew something new, but nothing too complicated. And then I remembered one of the things on my Make Nine was a Colette Moneta, and figured, it should be easy! I had set aside in my head this striped knit for ages - it's not too thick but the white is opaque, which I was very excited about when I purchased it.

I have made the Lady Skater in the past, and while I liked that pattern it didn't feel like it was something I could wear to work, and I was hoping to add some knit dresses to my wardrobe which were a bit more work appropriate. It turns out that Moneta is perfect for that!

I chose the 3/4 sleeve option for some cooler weather  wear (and because my Lady Skater dresses are all short sleeve and I wear them on weekends when it's warmer a lot), although I did run into a bit of drama with that. I found the sleeves way too wide at the upper arm, and ended up taking almost an inch out of each sleeve between the underarm and the elbow. Next time I'll draft a slightly different sleeve and sleeve head and try that out, as it's definitely an issue I've had before.

I put in the pockets but they don’t work super well in this fabric. It’ll be fine for things at work like a pen, but with my phone the whole side of the skirt pulls down, so I guess I’ll need my phone to be in my jacket instead when I wear this.

(Terrible face, but look at that stripe matching!)

Other than that slight snag, everything went swimmingly, until I had to apply the elastic on the waist. Then I realised my clear elastic definitely did not have enough stretch! I really wanted to keep going rather than having to stop and go to the shop straight away, so I pushed through with some picot underwear elastic and it worked much better. I’m actually pleased about that because when I’ve used clear elastic in the past it’s gotten a bit sticky when it’s warm, and the elastic I used won’t cause that to happen on this dress. I’ll try some different elastic for my next version, which is already planned and ready to cut, using the black stripe knit from Tilly and the Buttons.

I absolutely adore this dress, the stripes, the sleeve length, but definitely that it’s secret pajamas!!! Even though I’ve only worn it to take photos, it’s so comfy and I can’t wait until it’s no-tights weather to break it out (particularly with this RTW blazer which I picked up from Juicy Couture for a steal!) I am usually the best dressed at my work among my colleagues, but this time I’ll be just as comfy!