Midnight Sky

 When I was planning my winter sewing projects this fall, I decided that I was going to focus on Cotton+Steel fabric for the dresses.  I did have some stashed Hampton Twill that I wanted to use for one of the dresses, but the fabric I actually purchased this fall for my winter dresses was from Cotton + Steel.

I think we've established my deep and abiding love for their fabrics.  Their basic "quilt weight" cotton is a lightweight Japanese cotton that has such a soft hand and nice drape to it.  It is more like an old-fashioned percale with a bit of mechanical stretch, if you ask me.  

I really loved the pattern and colors on this dress, although I did hesitate over it for a while.  I'm glad I went for it, though, as it is so nice and saturated.  I'm planning to knit a pink cardigan for the spring to go with my Melody challis stuff, and it will coordinate nicely with the pink moons in this fabric.  For now, though, black accessories seem very wintery to me.

I may have been a tad too aggressive in shortening the bodice, as this one came out a smidge shorter than my other dresses, but I'm so short-waisted it hardly matters.  The elasticized waist casing covers a multitude of errors.  I'm also happy with the way the skirt section is coming out now that I've removed all the center seam allowances (even though I'm still cutting it on the fold).  It is just the right amount of flare and drape for my current preference.

I'm also glad I started taking out the back seam allowance on the bodice--it fits so much better through the back now.  (Losing weight hasn't hurt either!)

The thing I like about the elastic-cased waist is that I can skip the belt.  I am shrinking out of most of my belts, plus I find myself increasingly annoyed by belts, so this is an easy way to get around that.  Plus I like the shaping it gives to the dress and overall silhouette.

There are several shades of blue in the pattern, but it is predominately a cobalt blue on a black background.  I really like it.  I wore this dress on Friday for the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos in the Temple (blue is her liturgical color) and felt very festive!

I like this style of sweater for winter too--it is warm and has collar interest but has enough shaping to be jacket-like without the restriction.  I bought it at the end of the season last year so it didn't get much wear, but I've been reaching for it a lot this past week.  I just cast on a purple sweater that has a similar shape to it--hopefully I can finish it before spring!

Just the facts:

Midnight Sky Dress: Cotton+Steel fabric, frankenpattern dress (heavily modified emery bodice/McCall's vintage skirt piece, Hollyburn pockets), black bias binding, blue zip, 1/2" elastic for the waist

Black cotton undershirt: Loft via ThredUp

Black Cardigan: St. John's Bay via ebay

Swallow pin: Acorn and Will

Celtic knot earrings: Ireland

Foot traffic tights: sock dreams

Boots: Macy's