A pretty package from Purl.

And inside are my fabrics for February's dress (which reminds me I still need to finish January's dress).

February's dress is going to be dress number 8 from Slip & Dress (the same Japanese sewing book as my last three dresses - I'm getting a lot of use out of it). It's a little skimpier than the last few and will be great for really hot days or days when I want to show off a cute shrug without overheating or having to worry about anything bunching up.

I realized a few weeks ago that my 10 dresses project is going to be the perfect excuse to knit some pretty adorable shrugs and I've been bookmarking all kinds of them on Ravelry. I've also been wondering what to make for March's dress: I'm thinking of maybe doing Crepe from Colette patterns if I can find a fabric I like. I think a large print in a lightweight fabric would be really nice (I love the polka dots in their sample pictures) or maybe a double layer of voile - one print, one solid. Hmmmm ...

Since I just posted about my December dress it should come as no surprise that January's dress is still more idea than finished garment. I'm not really too worried about my "deadlines" though - they're more like guidelines really and the fabric for February's dress will not be here until at least the 16th anyway. I thought it would be fun to share my ideas for January's dress because I've been building it in my head for a while.

That's the fabric above. It's from the stash and I don't know the fibre content. It behaves a bit like a linen blend the way it drapes and folds. I like the colours in it. The ribbon is also from the stash and was one of the first things I picked out once I'd decided on my fabric. The straps on this green dress are exactly what I'd love to do with my ribbon (isn't that dress cute!). I don't find dresses gathered at the waist to be the most flattering on me so I'm planning to do an A-line shape instead. Something like this:

It is pretty much my orange top from last summer but full length. I think I'll use the same pattern pieces as November's dress, since I like the shape of it so much, but change the neckline so I can thread the ribbon through. I've been trying to decide if I should cut the dress straight of grain or on the bias. Right now I like the idea of cutting the dress straight and having a raw edged bias strip down the front but that is going to depend a bit on how much fabric I've actually got - bias cutting always takes more than I think it will.

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).