I am so delighted to be participating in Elizabeth Made This's Day and Night Dress Challenge for the third year in a row (check out my past Day and Night Dress Challenge projects here and here)!
This challenge is always so inspiring, and I’m honored to be part of such a talented group of bloggers and vloggers! I’m also incredibly pumped about the twist that Elizabeth has thrown into this year’s challenge: 1 Dress, 2 Looks… the challenge is to rejuvenate an underwhelming or unworn dress by styling it with other handmade pieces and accessories!
I chose to reinvigorate my this black tencel Sew DIY Lou Box Dress 2!
Today I'm writing about my day look, but head to Elizabeth's blog to see my day and night looks side-by-side...
For my day look, I wanted a sweater of some sort to make my Lou Box Dress a bit warmer/more appropriate for winter weather. I needed the sweater to hit at the high waist, where the dress is cinched in by the elastic.
I decided on the the Seamwork Elmira cardigan, a cropped, ballet-style wrap cardigan with a big, exaggerated waist tie (making it perfect for Sew Twists and Ties). I’ll be honest and say I hadn’t paid much attention to this pattern until I saw this red version by Sewrendipity, at which point I neeeeeeeded to make one!
The stash fabric I chose is some lovely dove grey superwash wool jersey that I bought from Fabric Mart last year, which was easy to work with, a pretty color, and met my objective of being warmer than the tencel my dress is made from!
In theory I like the concept of the Seamwork Elmira, but I had a few fit and construction issues. Fit-wise, I was sort of between sizes and decided to go with the larger size, which made it a bit wide around the waist.
Construction-wise, I am not enamored of how it went together and some of the issues the techniques caused: the back neck is just turned and stitched, which I think lets it stretch out easily. And the front is fully lined, but the neckline still stretches out easily. You can see the waviness I ended up with on one side. I much prefer a band finish that pulls the neckline close to the body.
That said, I think my Elmira sweater is really pretty! I love it knotted or tied in a big dramatic bow. I think it will look cute with high-waisted pants, too, in addition to my Lou Box Dress. It will pair perfectly with my wool gabardine Jenny trousers.
Thanks to Elizabeth for having me as part of this fun challenge!