Crepe Dress in Black and White

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Today I’m delighted to be a stop on the blog hop for Jennifer Sampou’s brand new fabric line, Black & White, for Robert Kaufman fabrics!

I met Jennifer at Quilt Market this past fall and just had a blast with her.  There may or may not have been an evening of charades in the Hilton bar complete with singing by Amy Gibson and myself.  😉 It might have been pretty epic.  When I wasn’t laughing away after hours, I was on the market floor and able to see Jennifer’s fabrics up close and in person.  When she asked me to be part of the blog hop, I thought about tackling a garment for myself with her yarn dies and an accent fabric from her collection.  And so, I made the Crepe Dress by Colette.

Crepe dress in black and white

This is a wrap style dress designated by Colette Patterns as “beginner”.  Hmm…well probably compared to their other patterns this is a beginner pattern.  But I think it is a bit more like an intermediate pattern for your average sewer.  The facings are a bit tricky…that’s the main difficulty.  Well and the six darts in the bodice… And it requires a good amount of fabric.  There’s at least 4 yards of fabric in this dress!

Crepe dress in black and white

I’m decently happy with how the dress looks on me but I think that I might still need to do some alterations to fit my proportions better.  The bodice is a bit large on me in the center of the front.  And I’m not sure if there is supposed to be that much fabric in the bodice back wrap. (But isn’t it pretty?!)

Crepe dress in black and white

I love how flattering a wrap dress is for any body size.  I’m not feeling my smallest these days by any means with a post surgery body and this dress helped hide a lot of that.

Crepe dress in black and white

I think you can see the beauty of Jennifer’s fabrics in the photo above.  Her Studio Stash yarn die looks really lovely with her fabric from Black and White (with a not so easy to remember name AJS-15017-290 ASH).

But if anyone has any suggestions for how the dress should fit me better please feel free to suggest away!! Because I’m certainly loving the wrap skirt!

Crepe dress in black and white

156 thoughts on “Crepe Dress in Black and White”

  4. Nann

    I got started as a garment sewer….quilts don't have darts and they always fit. The gray tones are delicious. Thanks for the chance to win.

    Reply
  5. Dawn

    I love your dress, I think I could wear this with my body type (middle weight). It is great, and you look great in it. Thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful day! dawnm1993(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply
  6. Andrea

    The dress is quite lovely on you!!! The sash stays as I feel it adds something valuable to the look of a wrap dress. I agree w you about needing some minor alterations. Perhaps someone local who can actually see the dress off and on you can give you good feedback on how to do it. Great fabric choice too!!��

    Reply
  8. Karen

    Cute dress! Like the varying size of a wrap around. Really like the black and while fabric and contrast.. I do tend toward high contrast fabrics, black white, brights on white or black.. all appeal to me 🙂

    Reply
  14. Farm Quilter

    Beautiful fabrics and lovely dress. It's been too many years since I did garment sewing for me to suggest how to adjust the bodice so it hugs your figure better. Quilting is much easier to get the right fit!!

    Reply
  25. Linda B

    Love the dress…..not sure what I would make with the fabric tho…..would have to look around to see something that catches my eye and go from there…..

    Reply
  26. Diane Beavers

    Angela
    you are angelic in your Black & White dress. I love how it drapes on you and the back neck line.
    I'd love to meet Jennifer one day too. I'm a new fan of ALL her fabrics, since the debut of Shimmer last Spring and am finding I can't resist any of her collections the more I uncover, past and present.
    bluestarof2(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply
  27. Chirpy

    I don't think that went well, my computer prowls aren't very good. I love the dress, reminds me of spring while we have rain. I like the belt and the draping this dress has.

    Reply
  33. Sonia Parham

    I think your dress looks great! That's something I haven't mastered yet… sewing clothes. I can make a quilt or a handbag all day long but not clothing, but there's still hope. 🙂

    Reply
  40. Sarah

    Your dress is beautiful, in construction and on you! It does look a little big, but remember that sewing something that doesn't fit just right is no different than wearing something from the racks that doesn't fit quite right, and in my opinion the dress looks much nicer than what you could buy! That said, I do have some dressmaking experience, so here are a few tips that you might be able to do without too much work: 1. First of all, if anything needs to be taken in at the shoulders, do that first before altering anything else, because it will change the fit. 2. Second, try taking in the side seams to reduce some of the excess in the bodice — you could take it in all down the sides to keep the flow (and not allow the hem to sag on the side seams), and you definitely have enough extra width in the waist and hip area even with some taken out. 3. The darts should be 1' below/away from the apex of the bust. That's hard to change after the dress is sewn, but maybe adjusting foundation garments would help. 4. If it seems too baggy to you center front, maybe you could run a little gathering stitch in the middle of the neckline as a "design feature" to take up some of the extra/make it look intentional. 5. It seems like there is too much height in the back of the bodice — I have this problem with every pattern because I have a swayback, so I need to take out fabric. If there is a waist seam joining bodice to skirt, I'd pin out the extra (looks like maybe a good 1.5 inches?) and re-sew the seam. If there isn't a waist seam (it doesn't look like there is), then I would suggest creating one, slashing the back bodice, removing the extra, and then adding a thread loop for the belt to go through so that the tie hides the seam.
    I hope that is all helpful, and please, please don't take it as criticism, just as a place to start if you do want to tackle fitting! I have made and worn many a dress that didn't "fit right". You are lovely in it, and I bet you're getting compliments left and right when you wear it! I am certainly not an expert, but if you have any questions, please feel free to write! sarah@forrussia.org

    Reply
  43. Judy Barr

    Wow! Sarah has way more expertise than I have with dressmaking. I'll leave it to the experts. Love the black and white fabric – I'm collecting fat quarters at the moment until I have enough to make a lovely quilt. Hope I win!
    judybarr at iearn dot org dot au

    Reply
  50. magistra

    I would definitely love twirling around in that cute dress 🙂 the skirt is beautiful! I agree, though, that the top does seem a bit big. Since I know nothing at all about garment sewing, alas, I have no advice. Well, I would say that number 90 above seems to know what she is talking about 🙂 thank you for a chance at this giveaway! Magistra13 at yahoo dot com
    Beth

    Reply

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