Chanel Resort 2011
(Style.com)
The Inspiration
Needless to say, everything about this dress is Chanel-esque. It is inspired by Chanel, or rather, intended to be à la Chanel! Chanel has almost trade-marked the use of tweed. It is impossible not to be able to see its appearance in any collection.
The Dress
Coco Chanel envisioned the LBD to be “minimalist, sophisticated, elegant, to be worn at any time of day” (Telegraph, 2007) and I want this dress to be so. I chose a basic shift dress pattern, folded the bust darts, disregarded the waist darts and lowered the neckline a little. Voila! I also made use of the selvage for the hem and lined the dress with concealed lining. Very basic, nothing fancy about it.
If you are looking for a commercial pattern, you can try Very Easy Vogue 8147.
The Fabric
This lovely 3 yards of fabric is gifted (yes, very lucky I know!), which a friend purchased from Chợ Hôm, Hanoi. If you happen to visit Hanoi, do drop by Chợ Hôm! It’s a fabric HEAVEN! I choose to believe that it is tweed. It is rough, has a distinctive warp and weft, in different colours and forms small check pattern (Smith, 2009). Other than the fact that it frays very easily, the tweed is very easy to work with. It doesn’t slip which makes it very tame while pinning and sewing. Remember to give extra extra seam allowance, just in case the fabric frays a lot.
Notions
I’m still looking for suitable trims to complete the Chanel look. I can’t seem to see any in local stores.
Mademoiselle is made for Tickled Pink Challenge. Check out the other saccharinely sweet creations on Sew Weekly!
