Paris dress -- Sew Dolly Clackett

Voila! Here's my (last minute) contribution to the Sew Dolly Clackett challenge, where all us stalkers of Roisin's (aka Dolly Clackett) wonderful sewing blog are making our own little item inspired by the amazing girl herself as a wedding gift to her and her husband to be, Nic from the online sewing community. This brilliant challenge was organised by Sarah, who I can only imagine is one of the most thoughtful friends that anyone can hope for! 

Having met Roisin in person (yep, I know!) at the Birmingham rag market meet-up, I had to take part. As you know I have recently moved house, so my life is currently filled with wonderful (cough) DIY tasks as soon as I get a spare minute, and fitting this project in under timing constraint has been a real challenge. That said, I am so pleased to have managed it before the deadline tomorrow, and being able to contribute to this wedding pressie. 

Without further ado, here is it!

Why is it Sew Dolly Clackett, I hear you ask? Isn't it obvious? But let me list it out for you anyway:

1. I made it in a novelty print fabric (need I say more?), called O La La Paris (more on that shortly). I picked this as Roisin and Nic's honeymoon is in Paris, not to mention her obsession with Eiffel Tower prints! 
2. For the bodice, I used the Elisalex Pattern from By Hand London, which is again one of Roisin's favourite. I must admit that I'm in love with the elegant back, and can completely see why Roisin loves the pattern so much;
3. For the skirt, I made a very full gathered skirt (I used 2 full widths of the fabric), in the true Roisin style ;)
4. I made the skirt finish just beneath my knees --  although I understand Roisin has recently started to experiment with shorter lengths, I believe this will still be her choice of skirt length;
5. I teamed it with dusty pink fabulous high heels (from Kurt Geiger) -- by this point (fabric, skirt length and high heels...) I don't think I need to tell you how far I am out of my comfort zone! 
6. Finally, I couldn't resist but posed in front of a door. Okay, I live on a busy road now and the newly planted hedges are growing really slowly, so I had to resort to the back patio doors. I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and the weather was miserable, and naturally light was barely there! So sadly I only managed one reasonable overall photo, and had to take the back views this evening with artificial lighting. 

Now a bit more on the fabric. I can just imagine this question being asked - what are the first things that come into your head when I say Paris? Eiffel Tower, croissant, baguette, wine, tennis... then we are onto random French words.... and then non-French randomness... I think! If you know what "di si no di qui/oui" means, in any language, please get in touch!  

Finally, an inside out shot of the neckline binding facing, my favourite facing method:

 
 So that's it, my very own Dolly Clackett inspired garment! Now I'm going to spare some time checking out the other entries - it's going to be a blast!