Oh ... I like this one. This pattern is from the same book as my last two dresses. The sample in the book is in black and I just loved the lines in the dress. I knew I could make it in another colour but it looked so fantastic in black that I didn't really want to try. I asked Rob for his opinion. He said he thought a black dress would be a handy thing for me to have. It looks smart all by itself but will be easy to dress up for special occasions.

My fabric is a hanky weight black linen that will pick up every last piece of animal hair in the house. The cat hairs, being black, aren't so bad but Abby's hair is light and long. The lint brush got some thorough exercise before this little photo shoot.

I took me a long time to get around to hemming this owing to some strangeness with the zipper. After I'd put it in the zipper seemed to be lined up wrong; one side was longer than the other. I was considering pulling it out and starting over when I noticed that the teeth still all lined up properly when it was closed - somehow one side of the zipper is a little longer than the other but has the same number of teeth. I have no idea if it was like this to start with - it had been packed in a box for a while and was pretty curly - or if I somehow shrank one side of the zipper when I pressed the coils open. Anyway, I'm not sue if there is anywhere in town where you can still buy invisible zippers and when quizzed Rob said he couldn't notice the strangeness so I left it and hemmed the dress.

I think it looks really great with my winkle pickers (pointy shoes).