Collared

I am so pleased with the dark velvet I chose for the collar of my Joan dress

You may recal that I was aiming to get this dress out of two and a half metres instead of three and a half. I decided to achieve this by shortening the sleeves, cutting the skirt to above the knee instead of below, and dispensing with the collar...

Then I looked again at my fabric and thought that the blue flecks in it could be enhanced by a bit of emphasis and that would happen if I used something blue for the collar.  I bought half a metre of blue silk and viscose velvet from Beckford Silk and am so pleased I did.

By cutting the velvet on the bias and leaving it as a soft roll the neckline looks just right and I think the dress might have looked too plain without it.

All done! and feels just fine. Had I used fabric with a bit of stretch I might have made the dress in a size smaller, but in this fabric I think I would have has straining at the seams issues!

In summary, I made three adjustments to the pattern for fit

1. Lengthening the bodice (in two places, armhole and underarm seam)
2. Increasing the sleeve width
3. Reducing the waist darts 

And three so that I could make the dress out of 2.5m instead of 3.5

1. Shortening the sleeves
2. Shortening the skirt
3. Making a contrast collar 

I would love to hear about how other people have made up the Joan Dress - fabric choices, modifications and alterations please!

xx

c