a Winter Peony

When I went shopping for my Poncho-skirt, I found a gorgeous piece of green wintery bouclé on the remnants table for 10€. SCORE! I knew I had to make a dress out of this! And here it is.

 

My second Peony. After the crazy flamingo’s, this one is a little more subdued, I would even dare to say it looks classy (untill I put it on, all class vanishes in an instant, because I am not frail and fragile, but firm).
But it still is a nice dress. 
I should have made an alteration to the front darts and taken out some excess fabric at the neck, but I didn’t. For one obvious reason: Laziness, my favourite pastime.

I did make a few changes to the construction. 
1. I repositioned the zipper to the left side seam. I don’t know why patterns call for zippers center back. I for one hate them.
When I lean back in a chair, the zipper starts to hurt and maybe I am not nimble enough, but I can’t manage to open or close a zipper on the back on my own. It always ends with me in tears curled up the wrong way around on the bathroom floor in a very abnormal bodyspasm, trying to reach the tiny, tiny zipper pull on the back.
2. Because of the side zipper, I only have one pocket. One pocket is better than no pocket. I know I said last time that the pocket didn’t do anything special for me, that I was impartial toward it, but since then, I have totally changed my mind – what can I say, I’m a girl! Pockets in all dresses PLEASE!
3. I made a full lining for this dress, because wool bouclé is itchy. Big time. The lining doesn’t eliminate all the itchyness, but most of it.
I bought the lining in a little fabric store here in Santander. It cost me 15€ (yes, more than the bouclé) and it is some sort of cheap polyester that I really, really hate. But it gets the job done…

The dress was put to the test in Barcelona and it held up perfectly! Luscious breakfast, walking through the rain – a lot of rain, museum visit and flight home. I love this dress. I feel very ME in it. And that is always an important consideration.

And now because I think there are more interesting things than my dresses I give you Sun, Sea, Surfers and Palm Trees. The weather has been so great the last few weeks, I wanted to share… And because the above pictures are the only ones I have that are decent. Time for my photographer/husband to get back home from his trip.

11 thoughts on “a Winter Peony

  1. Your peony is gorgeous!!!! Love the fabric, it goes with everything 🙂 I have the colette sewing book full of patterns and I have only sewn a couple of them yet… I have to give it a try!

  2. Lovely! You look great in your new dress, and let me add, the photos are gorgeous! I hope there is such nice weather at Xmas time! I´ll be there!

  3. Aahh Wendy, gorgeous dress! And you DO look very classy in it, you silly woman!
    Nice bow belt too… 🙂 I love it
    In fact I think this is your best make this year. The color is beautiful and it suits you so well. Lovely fabric… yes! (I want one just like that!)

  4. I love the colours and shape of your dress – it's a win! As for back zips – you made me laugh, but I know what you mean!

  5. Hi Maider, thanks! I have the Colette book too, but haven't made anything from it yet. I really liked the blouse you made from it!

  6. Hey Merche, thanks! I hope the nice weather sticks around until after the holidays! Hope you have a nice trip to Santander!

  7. Hi Rachel, thanks! I think you might be right, this definitely is up on the best makes I have shown here (there are 2 more that I really really love, but no pictures yet…)
    This is actually the only belt I own, but it goes with most of my clothes and I hardly ever wear a belt, so I guess I don't need any more…

  8. Hi Carolyn, thanks! And you are right, the green goes with practically everything… I never thought of green as a neutral colour but after this dress I think it might be…

  9. Hi Philippa, thanks! The Peony dress is a great basic shape! Change the fabric or colour and you have a completely different dress, that's why I love the pattern so much. And back zips… I think those have their origins when women were still wearing corsets and had 3 maids to help them lace them up… 21st century women should be able to get dressed alone without crying, but that's just my opinion 😉

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