Hepburn/Hepburn project: The Audrey Dress v. 1

First of all, thank you all for the lovely comments on my Kate trousers. I can add to the description of them that they are mighty comfortable as well!

When I woke up today, my voice had left me, and my body was aching. As my line of work is to teach people to sing, there was no point trying to go to work today, as it is kind of tricky to demonstrate different singing techniques without a voice!

Luckily, I have just received my recently ordered sewing literature, and so I have spent most of my day on the couch, tucked under a quilt, with a cup of ginger tea by my side, reading Claire Shaeffer´s Couture Sewing Techniques. That is one interesting book! There are tons of little tips and tricks that I really would like to try out. You´ll get the details as I make new garments!

And, best of all, it inspired me to take a second, more critical look at my Audrey dress.

A 1960s dress, pattern number 3094 by Stil. I made version B.

Now, as some of you may know, I planned and cut out this dress back in May, and it was originally planned for Self-Stitched September. September arrived, and I tried to finish it. I wasn´t satisfied at all, and tucked it into the large UFO- pile I have…

The first version of the Audrey dress. Although not a good fit for me, I still love the design!

The major issues are:

• The length. My dress turned out much longer than what it seem to be on the pic, and I don´t like that. (This is not a big issue, of course, as it is easy to make it shorter).
• The color choice. Now, this is more difficult to address. The color on me isn´t great, it can probably work for summer, but I don´t see myself wearing this type of dress during the summer months.
• The neckline. I made version B of this, and that type of neckline (combined with the unflattering color) isn´t really my thing.
• The sleevelessness. I really am more comfortable in other styles, either with some form of sleeve, or with straps.  This just isn´t the look for me.
• The fit. I didn´t make a muslin, and so I had to try and make alterations on the dress, I tried to change the shape of the neckline, and I tried to alter the shoulder and arm finish. With no luck…

Can you smell the uninspired stitching done on this neckline? I didn’t even bother to press it…

So in the spirit of this great post by Stacy, I am letting this one go. I will however make a skirt from the fabric instead, and I will make the little jacket. Together with a black, brown or navy top, I think the color will work better on me. To compensate for the lack of Audrey dresses in my wardrobe, I will make this one instead:

Now, this kind of sleeve looks much better on me . (And I´ll make sure to make a muslin this time…)

Have you had projects like this, that you finally just had to let go?

Goodbye, dress!