A third Miz Mozelle dress

Back in 2011, I made two versions of the Miz Mozelle pattern - one a totally unwearable toile (but I think this may still be my favourite version, as I love plain fabrics) and one from Liberty stretch silk satin. I've been meaning to revisit this pattern ever since, but time flies and suddenly four years have passed by. As evidence of this time-flying point, another whole week slipped by after I'd finally finished making this third dress, while it sat waiting for me to make the belt to go with it - a ten minute task that I struggled to fit in. It's often this way with sewing - whether it's binding a quilt or hemming a dress, the bulk of the sewing seems to be something that one can power through, only to be left feeling overwhelmed by the final stitches.

Anyway, it's finished now and the hurdle of the belt has been jumped not once, but twice. For after making the belt, I decided that it needed shortening the next day.

I made a few changes this time around - one of them being that I added a few inches to the length as I am not a big fan of my knees and know that I'll wear it more if it's this length, the second was to massively reduce the side seams on the bodice section of the dress. When I tried this on, mid-make, and asked my husband what he thought, he suggested that it was 'billowing' at the sides on the upper portion of the dress. This is the style of the dress and personally I quite like it, but I decided to take in the sides using basting stitches to trial his suggestion and I did quite like the effect, so decided to go with it for this version. You can see the photos below of my various Miz Mozelle's for billow-comparison purposes - this version is a lot more fitted across the bust.

I used an Art Gallery Fabrics jersey that I bought months and months ago for this latest dress. It's lovely - very soft, nice to sew with and a colour and print that feels really wearable. I like that it's clamshells, but that the overall effect is one of confetti or blossom. Or something else that feels quite light, happy and speckled. But I think I still love wearing unpatterned fabrics best.

I've found this dress varies from fabric to fabric: while I'd found the keyhole on my blue version far too big and bra-revealing, on this version, after I had perfectly bound and buttoned the keyhole, I then unpicked it all and made it bigger as it looked rather prim. I was able to cut it to the size the pattern dictated and somehow my bra is not revealed. I think the blue jersey was definitely something of a super-drape fabric and may have been being pulled down by its own weight, which was oddly heavy, despite its fluidity. It is indeed quite a strange fabric - as I wrote in my original post, it was being sold off very cheaply for dying people's hands blue. And it also smells and feels a bit swimming costumey. It wasn't just the gaping keyhole that made that toile unwearable.

My daughter took a few photos at the weekend - this one made me laugh when I saw it - she was attempting to use a camera angle to make me look taller... I think she was successful in her mission.

And here's another, accessorised by golden retrievers, only one of them mine!

I'm not sure that this print is still available in the UK, but Annie now has other Art Gallery Fabric knits in stock of an identical weight and drape - if you're interested, it's a very stable knit to sew with. However, I'm still hankering after a dress that resembles the blue swimming costume dress! I'm considering remaking it in a bamboo jersey, which is super drapey, but which has the disadvantage of being slightly more tricky to sew with and very fine - it's what I used for my Homage to Johnnie dress, below. I wish bamboo jersey were just a tiny bit thicker though as it can be unflattering if you wear non-seamless underwear with it and I'd quite like dress no.4 to be suitable for sitting in the garden with dogs, rather than going to weddings (the former not being such a thoughtfully-chosen-underwear-occasion).

If you happen to know of any interesting plain knits, I'd love to hear!

Florence x