My very first Moneta dress by Colette Patterns

I am so delighted to finally be able to understand what all the fuss is about with this dress! I have had this pattern since last Autumn and just haven’t got round to making it before now, but since there is a #monetaparty to get entered into I decided that I should maybe have a quick practice run with this pretty floral fabric that I picked up last month from Leicester market during the Dressmakers Meet-up in Leicester organised by Crafty Sew and So  (by the way I think I purchased the pattern from Crafty Sew and So also)! It’s a lightweight scuba fabric but has the perfect drape and stretch for this project.

This is my first Colette Pattern make, and I absolutely loved it. I loved the packaging of the instructions and pattern pieces. They are presented in a little booklet and it is charming. There are 3 options: version 1 is sleeveless and has a collar, version 2 has short sleeves and version 3 has 3/4 length sleeves.

I chose the 3/4 length sleeves and love them. Although they were a lot shorter than I expected I rather like them like that.

It was so easy to cut out. I used my rotary cutter and mat which always speeds things up. and before I knew it I had constructed the bodice. The bodice has a round neckline and back neckline is fairly low too which I think is so feminine.

Next up is the skirt pieces, and the pockets. Yes! it has pockets. Yippee! Again no problems at all. Up until now I had used my overlocker for everything but decided to use my stretch zig zag stitch (with ball point needle) on my regular machine to sew the side seam and around the pocket edges as I thought I would have more control around the pocket shapes than if I were using the overlocker. It worked out great.

The final part of construction (apart from hemming the skirt) is gathering the skirt to fit the bottom of the bodice. This was the bit that slightly worried me as I have never used the shirring technique to elasticate a skirt waist before. Before I started I referred to a brilliant tutorial by the lovely Abigail here which really helped me. I loved gathering this way and will be using this technique again as it’s really quite fun.

The length of the skirt was too long for me. (I’m 5’2″ by the way). I ended up trimming off 9cm from the length of the skirt when it came to hemming. No problem to do though, especially when your fabric doesn’t fray, and of course the hem was finished using the ball point twin needle for a professional finish. Next time I will know to alter the length of the skirt using the ‘lengthen/shorten’ markings on the pattern before cutting out!

I am totally in love with this dress. It’s fairly quick to make and nice and easy, plus it’s got to be one of the most comfy dresses I have. One of the most time consuming things about this make was that I used my overlocker, and my regular machine with a ball point needle and my regular machine with a ball point twin needle for this project so there was a small amount of swapping needles/machines etc throughout but really no big deal at all.

I am waiting for a delivery any day now of some super pretty jersey fabric so that I can make this dress up again but in ‘party style’ to enter the #monetaparty later this month. I am beyond excited with my new fabric choice so do look out for updates on that project either here or on Instagram. Are you entering the #monetaparty challenge? I am loving all the sneak peeks that are popping up on Instagram at the moment.

Have you made a Moneta? Do let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear them.

Take care and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x