This dress has a story that I want to share with all of you.  If you have been reading my blog long you probably recognize this black and white fabric.  You see, I made a maxi dress like 3 years ago out of it.  And I wanted to love it at the time but you know what, I never ever wore it.  So a couple years ago I hacked off the sleeves and I had a renewed love of it.  But that love has faded over the years.  The reality is that I never ever grab for it, so it needed a new life.

As part of my Sew the Year March plans I thought I would cut the dress apart and make it into the Colette Myrtle dress.  I had made one for my sister a few years ago and thought that it would be perfect for the elementary school auction we had this weekend.  But in true Kimberly fashion I waited to start the dress on Friday afternoon, for a Saturday evening party.  It was then I discovered the skirt on the dress above was not enough for the whole Myrtle dress.  My only option was to mix it up a little with some faux stretch leather.

I was really all over on how I actually felt about it at the time, but the more I wore it I felt pretty great in it.  The faux stretch leather was a fun addition that let me go a little biker chic thanks to my shoe choice for the evening.  If you are going to step out of your comfort zone for an evening, the elementary school auction is the place to do it.  There was so much alcohol flowing at the event no one cared what others were wearing, ha!

The Myrtle is such an easy sew, if it hadn’t been for book club that night I would have finished the dress on Friday evening.  The front drapey neckline is obviously the star of this dress and I found it to be really flattering on me.

The only thing I would change about this dress is that the back is too wide for me.  In order for the back neckline to sit as intended the dress is nearly falling off my shoulders.  I think I could remove at least an inch and a half from the center back so it sat on my body better.  Otherwise it was a pretty straight forward sew.

I would definitely recommend this pattern both if you are looking for a dress for an event or just a casual summer dress.  It might be worth doing a muslin for the bodice of the dress to determine if you need to remove some width from the back piece. 

I am so happy that I breathed new life into the original dress for the second time.  While thanks to the faux leather this isn’t an every day dress it will be fun for date nights or other events.

I would love to hear about handmade garments you wanted to love but just couldn’t, and how you refashioned them into something new.