Can I just start off by saying that I LOVE the name, Forget Me Not, as it pertains to a pattern company? Anything that references flowers is high in my book!
Full disclosure: I was gifted both the pattern and the fabric I used to make this pattern by two separate companies. There was no requirement for a blog post or review from either upon gifting, they each just wanted to hear my personal feedback from working with the materials. I also hadn't intended to use these two items together, but I am SO glad that I did, because this is now one of my favorite dresses!
Working with the Clementine Pattern was super simple from start to finish. The major thing that attracted me to this design was the cowl neck- I haven't seen many cowl neck designs and was even working on drafting my own when this pattern came out! I'm not entirely sure why, but Arlen personally LOVES when I wear cowl neck garments as well, so I figured this design would be a home run.
You can tell that the pattern drafter and instruction writer (I'm unsure if they are the same person but I assume it's all Jo!) for this company has a lot of experience and knowledge just based on the details in the instructions and where the notch placements land on the pattern. Working with this pattern brought me back to my own college years of learning how to properly mark a pattern for others to read from- ah the nostalgia. And then the instructions were simply so clear, with loads of nifty tips & tricks in them to help make your garment really stand the test of time!
I did wind up having to make one notable adjustment to the pattern, not because the pattern was incorrect or anything. My print was a large, bold, DIRECTIONAL print which made fitting all of the pieces on the garment a challenge. I wound up having to split both the front & back side panels into four pieces (two bodices and two skirts) in order to fit everything on my fabric without having flowers turned all sorts of ways. I also believe that I trimmed down the width on the back skirt panels by maybe 1/2” (1.3 cm) simply because they didn't fit in my fabric.
But because my print is so bold, I don't think anyone would even notice this seam unless I take a really close up picture like this!
Next time, I do think I will grade out to a larger size in the shoulders and sleeves. I always forget that because my shoulders are so wide that I need a larger size from my high bust up. Maybe I'll finally get around to developing a sloper of my upper body to help aide in future pattern fittings....
Now, the fabric I used was gifted to me by Cottoneer- I have long been a follower of this brand and I am obsessed with loads of their fabrics. I currently have my eye on a few of their linens because it's GA and wearing anything other than linen in the summer is like a wish to fall prey to the heat.
I wasn't planning on using this fabric for myself as I tend to stray away from anything synthetic. However, I failed to get the intended recipient's (my mom!) measurements for a different dress, so I wound up using it for myself. And I hate to admit this, but I am really glad I get to keep this dress all for me! As soon as I finished it and put it on I got really excited and felt super glamorous and just all around confident in it. Even Arlen loves this dress and he isn't a huge fan of patterned garments.
Of course now I see that Cottoneer has the same floral print in a different colorway that is 100% my mom's style, so I think another matching dress is in the cards! Ma- if you are reading this, let me know what you think! We can be #sewtwinning anytime we want!
Image from Cottoneer's Website
PS- Can we talk about how amazing these large pockets are?! Perfection!
