I was looking forward to trying this one, as I'd seen so many versions of it, and I'm pleased with the finished dress (shown here not hemmed and on my daughter), but I really struggled with it. I cut a muslin and fiddled with the bodice fit a lot. I hadn't a clue really how to do this, but I removed fabric here and there until it felt better, then I used the muslin to cut the fabric. I'd bought this fabric really cheaply, in the form of a pair of vintage curtains. It looks and feels like a Sanderson fabric to me - a kind of cotton duck, and it's been wonderful to work with. Here's the lining and outer bodice being lined up for the neckline, which I lowered a couple of centimetres - the pattern's version sits very high and I would have felt throttled.
It all went together beautifully. The Colette instructions were clear and easy to follow, and it's not a complicated dress to follow for a beginner dressmaker like me. Here's the sleeves being lined up:
And then in place...
The sleeve roll I made came in so usefully for ironing these awkward bits:
But my problem is the bodice still isn't right. I've added a couple of pretend darts, for want of a better term, either side of the proper darts, and that's removed a lot of the excess fabric. I know this isn't the right way to approach it, but I can't bear to unpick the whole dress. I think Colette dresses are made for far bustier women than me, from reading several reviews.
It's certainly a huge learning curve, this dressmaking! But I'm having a lot of fun with it!