The dress code for our symphony orchestra concerts was black. We also had to cover our shoulders and knees as we performed in Italian Duomos (Cathedrals) which you need to be fairly covered up in. You may notice that this dress fulfils only one out of the 3 requirements, being black, but neither being knee length or covering my shoulders.
Once upon a time it covered my knees, and then the fabric shrunk. The empire line used to be at my natural waistline… This is entirely my fault because I didn’t bother to pre wash the cotton jersey that this dress is made up of.
The other requirement ( the sleeves) is missing because I had 2 metres of the stuff and I could get in a sleeveless dress and a t-shirt or a dress with sleeves. I decided that the obvious choice to go for was choice numero a. (Just realised that the letter a isn’t a number, but we’ll just skate over that issue… Oh and I’ll also point out that when I made the dress weeks advance of going to Italy I was not informed that we had to cover our shoulders. So in the end I just had to wear a black cardi on top which would have been fine if it was not 35 degrees and playing clarinet in a concert, which when you put some effort into it is surprisingly sweaty work. (Too much information?)




Here is a really badly photographed line drawing of the pattern I used, taken from the book called Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin. What the book does is give you a basic pattern and then shows you ways to adapt it to make completely different garments which is really useful. E.g. This skirt was gathered but the pattern only came with a fitted skirt, so what you do is cut the skirt into 3 lengthways and spread it out and now you have enough to gather. It’s a brilliant book with loads of really useful information.









It is actually a really comfy staple piece which works well with a statement necklace (as demonstrated to your left). It would also work well with shoes (as is not demonstrated to your left as I seem to have forgotten that aspect of my attire).
I would like to make another in an interesting print sometime.







Well, I think that’s just about all for now so thanks so much for reading!
Lauren x