Spring is finally here in Van City and it’s sunny and gorgeous. I figured my spring wardrobe needed a refresh, so I made this simple sundress from Colette’s “Hazel” pattern.
This pattern is labelled “beginner” and it went together really quickly. It also has lots of tips throughout on seam finishing and so on, which would be very useful to a beginner. You don’t really need to worry about fitting waist and hips too much either because of the gathered skirt, so I only made a muslin of the bodice. And it has pockets, which is nice for those days when you head to the beach and realise it’s 10 degrees colder down there.

I loved the striped Hazels featured on the Colette website, so I made this out of some striped Lisette fabric I got on my last trip to the U.S. It actually wasn’t too fiddley getting the bodice to match up.

One thing to know about these Colette patterns, is that they seem to think that smaller sizes are shorter too. I’m not sure why that is, as the Big Four pattern companies like Simplicity and Vogue tend to just assume everyone is 5’6. For this Hazel, I cut the skirt out an inch or two longer than the size I was cutting out, and next time I might even add another inch or two to make it “safe-for-work”.
In looking around the Colette site, I came across this post which encourages people to try and wear something they’ve made every day for a month. I don’t have nearly enough “Made-By-Me” items to participate (though my kids certainly do!) but even so, this quote kind of struck me:
So, do you actually wear the clothes you spend time creating? Personally, I often find it too easy to find fault in my newly completed creations and at times used to shove them in a drawer and allow myself to be quickly distracted by the next project. But thankfully eventually, the ratio of drawer-fillers to wearable items began to shift.
I do become kind of fixated on a crooked zipper, or slightly wrong fit when in fact many of my store-bought clothes, when examined closely, suffer from worse problems. So a month of “Made-By-Me” items is definitely something I aspire to in the near future as the ratio in my drawers changes. I’m also going to take pride in the fact that the invisible zipper on this dress is really and truly invisible, instead of focussing on where the stripes don’t exactly match up.
Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day to all! Unfortunately, I infected my own mother with the hideous stomach virus/cold flu that has been plaguing our home for the last week, so she wasn’t able to see the bag I got her, or join us for brunch and the walk on the beach… but I had a lovely meal at one of my favourite restaurants, Rain City Grill.