Foxy Elisalex

I have admired Elisalex by By Hand London for a while. I love the beautiful shape to the skirt and I've seen some truly fabulous ones online so I decided to take the plunge! I found this fox print fabric at a local market, it appears to be a heavy cotton canvas. Probably designed to be used for a child's bedroom curtains and it was a steal at £4 a metre.

I'm happy with the finished dress. The colour is a little too light for my skin tone and I wish that they had sold the fabric in a different colour way but I just couldn't resist the fox print. I made the dress in a size 8 which fit beautifully on the top at the front. For my size I should have graded out to a 10 on the bottom, but as the skirt has so much ease and volume I decided not to and I'm pleased I didn't.

There are some fitting problems at the back of the dress, which gapes slightly. However, I decided not to alter it as I didn't want it to feel tight and wanted enough movement to dance in it!

The dress is lined, which makes it feel beautiful to wear inside and out. I decided to line it with a small blue spot cotton lawn to pick out the blue bow which the fox is wearing.

The dress was straight forward to sew and the instructions were very clear. I did however have a bit of drama! I forgot to over lock my back seems before inserting the zip so I decided that as it was so beautiful inside that I would try and do it after. This was a big mistake and I ended up catching the skirt and cutting a large hole in it! I thought that the dress was ruined as I didn't have any left over fabric to cut another skirt. After a few deep breaths (actually a full on toddler strop) I decided to try and bring the skirt in to hide my mistake and I just about get away with it. There is a rather strange fox on the back which is at a different angle but I think I just about get away with it!

Despite its many imperfections I definitely have a soft spot for this dress. I'm already plotting a Christmas version!