Coral obsession

Pinterest serves many wonderful and indispensable purposes in my life, one of which is to highlight particular obsessions I might have. I started my account around the time that Dear Sister told me her wedding color was coral. Obviously, I was aware of the color before, and as a matter of fact, liked it very much. But ever since she told me, I’ve been pinning coral dress after coral dress (even though I hardly wear dresses, which itself has more to do with shoes than anything). My boards have a knitting pattern for a coral cardigan, coral shoes that did not fit me and a tutorial for coral barrettes. Coral pyjamas, a coral jacket and coral throw pillows. Even coral furniture, coral flowers and coral accessories. So I gave in to the coral obsession and bought some coral fabric to make a dress, finally.

The pattern I used was Simplicity 2362, view E (which is meant as either a day or an evening dress, and really wasn’t too hard to make). Let me say it loud and clear: Thank God for muslins! I actually took the time to make a muslin with my dress pattern, and it was a life saver. It allowed me to make mistakes on a practice dress and also showed me how to alter the pattern to get something that fit me well. I lengthened the hem, added more elastic under the arms, and did away with the interlining altogether. I also shortened the width of the back and added a pleat on each side of the back of the skirt to compensate. And I made straps instead of a halter top. I’m still not quite happy with the zipper, though this time part of that has to do with the fact that I preferred an invisible zipper to a regular one, and I had to make do with something that’s not quite the right shade. That being said, this dress fits me quite well. I love the empire waist and the fact that it has pockets!

According to the pattern, I should have needed 2 ½ yards of fabric (including lining), but the 2 yards of dark coral linen I had bought from Mood Fabrics were enough. I paid $10.15 for the pattern, plus $27.99 for the fabric (including taxes and shipping). I already had the thread, the elastic, and the hook-and-eye closure and paid $2.99 for the zipper. Factor in maybe $5.00 for 2 yards of muslin, and that brings the grand total to just over $46.00. Not bad! As of now, my plan is to wear it to my sister’s wedding, since I’m not quite happy with the result of my dress alteration (orange dress) and haven’t found a shrug, despite lots of searching. I’m really happy with how this dress turned out, though, and I’m considering making another one in black.