Black Needlecord Cleo Dungaree Dress

Despite already owning two Tilly and the Buttons Cleo dungaree dresses I knew that I had to make a third when I saw this gorgeous midnight black needle cord from Minerva Crafts. I love needle cord fabric, and was not disappointed with this one when it arrived: not only is the colour a lovely deep black, but it also feels wonderful and the cord is lovely and fine. As aforementioned I made a Cleo dungaree dress with this fabric, and I could not be more happy with the result! I actually already own a needle cord Cleo, (and a denim one) but I think that this one is different enough for them to both be worn often. 

I’ve sewn using needle cord before and although it is fairly easy to sew with I would stress that the fabric does become squished if it is ironed. Because of this, I ironed my fabric with a tea-towel over it to protect it at the start, and then tried not to press it too much as I sewed. Luckily, I’ve found that the creases drop out of the fabric when it is hung up.  I really enjoyed sewing this for several reasons. The first is that the pattern is just so simple! By now I have the pattern traced out and I know exactly how to sew it which made it an even speedier process. This fabric was also really nice to work with. What I like about sewing something with a pattern that I have used before is the knowledge that I will get a lot of wear out of it, as there is nothing worse than spending lots of time sewing something only to never wear it! It was a really relaxing and satisfying sew. It’s also the perfect pattern for beginners and great to sew out of  a needle cord fabric such as this one. I mentioned some of my favourite patterns to sew out of needle cord in this post, and as you can see the Cleo dress was one of them.

A special detail that I love is this tiny snippet of cactus ribbon that I enclosed in the side seam. It’s really small so doesn’t disrupt the dress of make it hard to wear but its so cute and makes me smile every time I see it.Another thing that I like about this particular dress is the dungaree clips. I’ve only ever found silver ones before but my Mum managed to find the lovely brass ones that I decided to use on this dress. I absolutely love the copper colour with the black!

I really love the versatility of the Cleo dungaree dress. I wear mine all the time, and I’m sure that this one will be getting a lot of wear too! I’m sure it’ll be great throughout all seasons too as it can be worn with/without tights, jumpers, t-shirts etc. Although black could seam like a fairly dull colour, I would argue that it’s perfect for a layering piece. I like that it means that I can wear most tops underneath it, I currently love wearing a white top underneath – the contrast between the colours looks really nice. I don’t own any really bright tops but they would look great paired with this dungaree dress too. Another thing to add to the sewing list perhaps?! I also really like this shade of black: it has a lot more depth in it than some grey/black fabrics do.