Victory Patterns Chloe Dress

After I finished my Ellsworth Coat, something must have shifted—maybe it unblocked my sew-jo—because I have been completing projects left and right since then! Like the Ellsworth Coat, this un-blogged make is also from last October, but it’s what I made at last year’s Camp Workroom Social Dressmaking class (the Ellsworth Coat was made in the Jacket Making class the year before, but took me a year to complete). This one is the Victory Patterns Chloe Dress by the lovely Kristiann Boos.

This is an example of a pattern that I probably never would have picked on my own, but surprisingly have ended up loving. It has a lot of little details I love, like the cap sleeves, decorative buttons and welt pockets.

It all came together quite nicely for this dress; almost all the materials were already in my stash. When I found out this was the pattern we were making in class, and saw that a lightweight wool was one of the recommended fabrics, I immediately remembered this houndstooth wool I had bought from the remnant pile at Pacific Fabrics.  I got the idea to add piping from Miss Make’s version with flat piping and think it really makes this dress.

I was gifted a ton of vintage buttons awhile ago, so the buttons were also from my stash.

I did have to buy at tiny bit of black wool for the contrast fabric for the cap sleeves and welt pockets. I also purchased some rayon bemberg for the lining.

Since this was made in a class setting, I think we deviated from the original pattern so that we could learn some different dressmaking technique and finishes. For example, the way we lined it, the lining attaches to the facings and I think that differs from the original pattern.

We were also shown a way to fully enclose the sleeve seams on the inside of the dress and some hand sewing techniques for things like attaching a hook and eye properly and using a chain stitch to attach the lining to the hem so it doesn’t ride up.

Luckily this dress was mostly completed at camp, so all I had to do when I got home was hem it, put on the decorative buttons, and finish some of the hand sewing. Plus, I had holiday events I wanted to wear this too, so that motivated me to finish it. We were headed to see Dina Martina on Christmas Eve when these photos were taken.  Because of the lightweight wool and the rayon bemberg lining, this dress has a nice weight to it that makes it a great dress for fall and winter.

Sorry to show you a pattern you can’t order, but this pattern may have been retired because it doesn’t seem to be offered on her website anymore. She might be working on it and it’ll come back, so if it does, be on the lookout!