Lekala Safari dress #4736 for Nicole

Over the Christmas holidays Liddy and I started watching a pretty lack-lustre show called Lie With Me

It was pretty bad and we soon swapped to The Head , which was awesome but, I digress...

The show was awful but the clothes were gorgeous and I really liked this green safari style dress.

Lids did some sleuthing and found it for me on Shop your TV

It is a Zimmerman dress, in a silk with heavy contrast stitching. I have some black, sand-washed silk I purchased from Designer Ends Fabric but there was no way I cutting into it without trialing a pattern first. 

After checking out a few patterns on Lekala I decided Lekala Safari #4736 was the best match. I omitted the collar, the waist casing and the patch pockets. I added a waist tie and lots and lots of top stitching.

I used some cotton/rayon from Elizas of Sunshine, that was around $3/m. It had a similar drape to the silk.

For the topstitching, I used some pre-wound bobbin thread on the top and bobbin of my machine. I picked this up in an Op-Shop quite a few years ago and it is what I use to topstitch my jeans (with regular thread in the bobbin, for jeans).

It definitely gave me the visible thread stitching detail but it was heavy going. No matter how I adjusted my thread and bobbin tension it wanted to pucker. I had to pull my fabric extremely taut while sewing which was murder on my shoulder bursitis.

I think I will try this on the top spool and regular on the bobbin on a scrap of the silk before I make my next dress.

As Lekala is a custom fit I didn't have to fuss with the fit, it was perfect. I truly thought it would be too small as Lidia popped it on first and it looked great on her. Lekala always seems to nail my narrow shoulders/ big boobs shape so well.

Looking back at the photos I wasn't keen on the clinging nature so I purchased a slip (actually two, one nude, one black) and it really improves the look of the dress and also keeps me warm.

I struggled a bit with how to tie the tie. My tummy protrudes, even in shape wear and I didn't like it tied in an Empire fashion. That said, I am sure that is one of those issues that is in my head and no one else will notice.

I think I have a leather belt packed away (Helloooo Covid lockdown, belts?) and I will try that. In the end, I tied the waist tie at the back (like a trench coat) so that the back was nipped in and let the front hang straight. I don't have a photo but I think that looked really snappy.

This dress has become my goto meeting dress and on our last trip to Town I channeled my inner Beth Dutton and paired it with my knee high western RM Williams boots that I have not worn since I was pregnant with Lidia.

In conclusion, a very happy sew which I look forward to repeating with the good stuff!

Thank you for reading .... xx Nicole