Simplicity 3775 - a little autumn dress

Dear all,
I hope you're having a lovely weekend!
Here's a dress I made a couple of weeks ago.

I bought this pattern in June with plans of making it for summer. I even bought a lovely knit fabric with it in mind.

As this is a 4-way stretch, I wanted to play around with the stripes, have them horizontally at the midriff and vertically everywhere else. Wouldn't it be pretty?
However, the weather had other plans for us in Western Europe. As many of you know, summer was nonexistent and there was no point in making a dress I wouldn't be wearing. With a sigh, I decided to put away the pattern and fabric and save them for next year.

Then Adrienne, whose blog I had only just discovered thanks to her fantastic podcasts (I love them, Adrienne!), showed us a darling version of the same pattern. As I admired it in my comment, I told her how much I wished the weather had been kinder to us in France. Adrienne replied with a very sweet note and a smart idea: why not make it in a fall fabric?
And that's what I did, thanks to Adrienne. Instead of the sleeveless version I had in mind, I made a long-sleeved version, with a scoop neck and a ruchéd midriff (the interesting midriff is what drew me to that pattern in the first place).

(this picture was lightened up to show the ruché better)

I used a Roberto Cavalli lightweight stretch velvet that I got for a great price from a German online store. Black with anthracite accents. It is, in fact, the black version of the brown fabric I used for my first very lame attempt at the Hot Patterns Cosmo dress. You see, I wanted to find a means to overcome this previous experience, and the feeling of failure and distress it was associated with. This is why I chose a very similar fabric - but not quite; took a pattern with similar details - though not the same pattern. I did lower the neckline slightly to make it closer to the Cosmo dress (although the original neckline on the Cosmo is very low).
I shall be making the Cosmo dress again some time - I'm just not quite ready yet.

You can read a more detailed and technical review of my experience with Simplicity 3775 here. This is a nice transitional dress for the beginning of autumn.

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On a personal level (feel free to skip the next 2 paragraphs if you're just interested in the sewing project!), I am happy this dress helped me overcome some of my feelings while working on the Cosmo Dress. I remember thinking I may never be able to sew again at that time. It was just a few days before my Mamie left us.
Sewing however remains a bitter-sweet experience since my Grandma's passing. Keeping on sewing is essential to me because I know how interested and happy Mamie was in my sewing endeavours; those are the times when I remember her most - but also when her miss most.
I miss her so much. There is still hardly a day when I don't have to fight back tears when thinking about her. Her absence still feels so unacceptable, you know? Saturdays are especially hard; she left us on a Saturday evening.

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This is the second item in my autumn wardrobe. The third one is the little black jacket I made last Sunday, and did finish right in time for the conference. Thank you very much for your helpful and enthusiastic comments about my little jacket dilemma! I finally made Vogue 8300, but with significant alterations to the style. It turned out adorable, if I may say so myself, and I really enjoyed wearing it to the conference. I'll post about it as soon as I can. Which may not be very soon, though. :) (see above post to understand).

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To make up for the sad note above (and so you know I do count my blessings and embrace what joy there is in life - and there is plenty to be had), here is an adorable picture of Robin that my sister sent me.

My brother joked that if this was indeed what you could find in nappy boxes, he'd be buying out the whole stock in his supermarket - especially when you can have a 33% bonus like here!
Robin's abilities seem to be developing by leaps and bounds recently. I'm going to Lille tomorrow morning and can't wait to see him again. It means a very quick return trip, but it's worth it. I miss my parents, sister, BIL and nephew.

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Hoping this finds you all enjoying your weekend!