Back to school Cambie

After a significant time away, I'm back to work on Monday.  Clearly, I need a back-to-school dress! Having just made a party dress using the gathered-skirt style, I whipped up the A-line version of the Cambie for work.  I love the tailored fit of this version and the slant pockets.  Man, this pattern is versatile!

The fabric is a peacock-blue double-wool with lycra (Britex, bought in the remnants department), perhaps a bit thick for this dress, but really lovely to sew and wear.  Because of the weight of the fabric, I went with a simple pleat on the "sleeve" instead of gathering the fabric.  And I love the result--seems a bit vintage-y and definitely suits the style of the dress.

I made a slight sway-back adjustment, which is an easy alteration with this particular pattern since there is are center back and waist seams.

Since the "sleeves" aren't too bulky, I can definitely wear a cardigan over this dress when it gets a little chilly; along with pockets, being"cardigan-able" is a super important feature of any me-made article of clothing.

For the inside, I used a super pale green bemberg lining and the sweetest navy and white polka dot stretch silk (Britex, also from the remnants department).   If only everyone could see the inside band of this dress!

  

I'm not going to lie, I struggled with the lining hem.  Ugh.  But I used lace hem tape for the wool, something I've never used before (really!), and, folks, I hand sewed the hem.  That is almost unheard-of for me, but I splurged and bought some silk thread and that made it feel a bit like less of a chore.

A new school year, and a new dress.  Guess that's worth smiling about!

P.S.  Last year at this time, I made another back-to-school dress (with Britex fabric), here.