Happily Wearable Macaron Muslin.

After looking at the name of this pattern for weeks during all of these Colette 2.0 festivities, I finally looked up what a macaron is, because I was pretty sure it wasn’t a misspelling of macaroon; and it turns out it’s those yummy yummy layered meringue cookies that Wegman’s happens to make extremely well. Wow, that makes this dress even sweeter.

We finally had a cloudy day this week, so I had hours to devote to my Macaron muslin. A few days earlier, I had traced the pattern pieces onto freezer paper and put all the necesssary markings on them, like a good girl. Wow, I LOVE the freezer paper thing. Thanks to everyone who has touted this process. As for my fabric choices, the shell is made out of this Westminster Fiber/Free Spirit/Hopscotch brand cotton with a sort of bizarre print, kind of a Dora meets Japanese anime, that I must have spent next to nothing for from Fabric Mart, because otherwise I can’t imagine choosing it. I love the colors, though, and it’s a nice quality cotton. Feels amazing to wear. Maybe I’ll outgrow quilting cotton yet—um, AFTER I make the final Macaron that is… The contrast fabric is a purple cotton (yeah, probably quilting cotton, from my stash) that matches the purple in the print.

This is yet another wonderful Colette easy-squeezy frock. It is listed as Intermediate, but I didn’t find anything particularly challenging about it, even as a relative beginner. The only thing that made me sort of cringe was slashing the pristine skirt front to create space for the pleat pockets. Before this, I had only ever made pockets along the side seams. The instructions were very straightforward, and I was able to make about 90% of it in one evening, including cutting the fabric. The fit was great from the get-go. Hooray!! I learned from my Hazel experiences that I’m a 14 in Coletteland, and luckily this was the case for Macaron. My only alteration was that I made it sleeveless and finished the armholes with a dark blue double-fold bias tape. Love how that came out. My final Macaron will have the standard short sleeves, so fingers crossed that that will go well.

Here are the pics

Paired with a nice shiny pink clutch:

LOVE those pockets:

Semi-invisible pink zipper:

Another pic, just because I love this dress and the beautiful garden my boyfriend’s sister maintains:

And my hero/love/photographer’s attempt at whimsy. “Here, hold this”:

Um, New Jersey Gothic?

Hope you all are having as much fun as I am during Colette 2.0. As always, a million thanks to Sarah, Erin, and Rochelle for the helpful and supportive posts!! This very recent post from Sarah’s site, with guest blogger Sarai of Colette Patterns, is a swoonfest of creativity.

Peace, love, and sweet dresses and cookies to you all.
Shelley