Summery Pauline Alice Cami Dress

My tartan version of the Pauline Alice Camí dress that I made for the Autumn of 1000 Shirtdresses is undoubtedly one of my favourite creations from last year, and I wore it a lot when the weather was still all wintery. So it's no surprise that when spring arrived I started to get the urge to sew another more summery version - and here it is!

Truthfully, the seeds of this dress were planted some time around the beginning of the year when I found this dotty cotton half price in the John Lewis sale. It was part of their 150th anniversary collection that they released last year, and I'd already used a different print from the same collection to make a Lilou dress for my Mum, so I knew it would be great to work with. Throw in pretty dots, a lovely teal colour and the fact that it was a bargain and I was sold, and from that point on it was pretty much destined to become a Camí.

For version two, I stuck with exactly the same size and modifications that I used for my first version (size 44 with 1.5 inches added to the length of the bodice and 3 inches to the skirt, and an extra button due to the added bodice length). This version seems to be slightly closer fitting than my first one, which I think is because there's slightly more give in the tartain/plaid than this crisp cotton, but they both fit nicely so it's all good.

In this version, I had a slight problem when I was attaching the collar - somehow my collar stand was too long for the neckline. I don't remember that being an issue on my first version so I think I must have been slightly imprecise when I was cutting out my fabric or something. There wasn't a massive difference though, so with a lot of pins and easing, and some ever-so-slight reshaping of the ends of the collar stand, I made it work! 

As luck would have it, I had a piece of teal poplin left in my stash from one of my very first dressmaking projects (I've learnt a lot since then!) which was an exact match for the dots on this fabric. You could call this a happy coincidence, but I think it's more likely to be an indication that I'm repeatedly drawn towards the same colours! I'm not complaining about that though, because it meant I could use the poplin to make perfectly matching covered buttons and a cute little bow belt (using a combination of tutorials from Tilly and Lauren).

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that I don't have a button or button hole on the collar. I could claim that this was entirely intentional because I know I would never button the dress right up to the collar. That is partly true, but the main reason is because I only had 6 self-cover buttons left in my stash and I was too impatient to wait to get more! At some point I might get some more buttons and add one on the collar, but part of me thinks it isn't really necessary because it would never be used and I think the dress looks fine without it.

Given how much I liked my first version of the Camí, it's hardly surprising that I'm pretty pleased with this version too! At the moment I'm not convinced by the bow belt - I love how it looks but I think it might be a bit annoying to wear. I've still got some of the teal poplin left over though, so I might think about making another covered elastic belt instead. The dress itself is a definite success though, I'm looking forward to wearing it again! What have you been making recently?