Moneta Mark 2

So I've made a second Colette Moneta. 

I  fell in love with Caroline's maxi dress,  and I really wanted the fabric, which is Valorie Wells Sea Glass knit.  I couldn't find it in the UK and believe it or not I bought it from the USA.  Crazy!  I'm not sure it is the right fabric for this dress because it is so soft, in fact the only garments I think it really is suited to are pyjamas, but very expensive ones!  It looks OK for now, but I don't think it will wash and wear well.

I wanted to try adding a cream collar, but found it really difficult to find a suitable weight of cream knit, so I tried one collar from a thin knit, it looked floppy and insubstantial and one from ponte which looked like a puritan collar.  So I gave up and decided to just bind the neck (I used the binding pattern from the Lady Skater's pattern just 2" shorter), which seemed to work.

This is a great pattern except for the gathering the skirt method, which is almost impossible to do with only two hands.  You are supposed to stretch clear elastic to gather.  I tried just gathering with a long stitch first, but that wasn't effective so went back to the clear elastic method.  It was OK, but very fiddly.  The bodice is a great fit and very flattering.  I am going to include photos of me in the dress, but apologies the quality is poor, I can't be bothered to crop them and there is a strange posing thing going on!  Still not used to using the remote!

I will get better at self-photos, promise.  Otherwise it's not been a great two weeks, I been feeling unwell for 10 days, just a virus but rather tiring, but much worse my lovely cat Meg has not been home for more than two weeks.  She has never stayed away before so I fear the worst.  We got Meg and her kitten Jess from a rescue home 6 years ago and she is a lovely, loving cat whose strangest habit was coming for walks with us.  She is very missed.