My inspiration for this dress was the El Capitan Dress by Shabby Apple. They have some really cute vintage inspired clothing, and I love to peruse their website for ideas. The clothes are too pricey for me- this dress was $86, but I’ve taken to doing some copycatting. My version was a good bit cheaper- I think I paid about $15 for the remnant of wool suiting I used, and the patterns I based it off of were ones I already had.
I did a good bit of franken-patterning to get this guy together. The skirt is a By Hand London Charlotte Skirt, the Top is a Deer and Doe Belladone, the sleeves are the adorable little scalloped sleeves from Collette’s Macaron, and finally the peplum is a self drafted half circle. I’ve gotten quite a bit of mileage out of these three patterns- see my other two Belladones here and here, and my Macarons here and here (though only one with sleeves). The Charlotte skirt I have made a couple of times but never been thrilled with and so haven’t blogged any of them. The pattern has some fit issues on me which I did not manage to solve even on this third go round, but luckily they are hidden by the peplum.
I really love the half circle peplum- I have made a couple of gathered peplums in the past and I think the circle is much more sleek- It doesn’t add as much bulk at the waist. I also must admit that I read several blog posts about how to determine the correct length for a peplum- apparently it should just skim the top of your hips. In order to add a bit of contrast to the dress, I finished the neckline and lined the sleeves with some 30s reproduction fabric, which peeks out of the sleeves when I’m wearing it.
I finished the whole thing off with a chunky exposed zipper (and may this trend never end!). I think the dress turned out really beautifully overall, but it does have some fit issues. As with my other Belladones, the back gapes pretty badly, so I usually wear a cardigan with it to hide that. I think it may be time for to retire this pattern, because I just can’t figure out how to fix this gaping and it drives me nuts. That’s all for now kiddos, but stay tuned later this week for a post about my fresh new (well, used if we’re being honest with ourselves here) Rit dyed coat!
somerealthings 
Did you catch the dress that Jennifer Lawrence wore to the Oscars? It had a split peplum and I thought it was quite nice. She looked great in the dress!
You just need someone to pin the neck on you at sewing club. It’s near impossible to do for yourself without gaping.
I have to second Sarah, bring your next Belladone to sewing club and we will have that thing fitting like a glove. It is just the nature of those bias edges that things stretch. A little pinny pin pin and you’ll be in love. And this mash-up, genius. I’m hoping the metal zipper trend holds as well.
Beautiful dress. I love it. The gaping is probably from the stretchiness of the fabric. Sometimes using a fusible stay tape can fix it. Simply fuse it to the sewing line with your iron, but as you fuse it, slightly shrink the fabric. If you haven’t tried that, maybe it can help you next time 🙂
you did a really great job, I love it!
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Love it!!