A few months back, Gertie posted about the concept of finding your own neutral.  At the time I just wasn’t sure… I don’t wear many neutral colors, due to my high contrast coloring (dark hair, light eyes.) Don’t even get me started on how horrible I look in beige or brown tones.  I can wear black, but there is the cat hair issue.  Gray?  I love it, but not near my face.  Lately I’ve found myself really drawn to navy blue – perhaps that could be my neutral?  And why does navy count as a neutral when it is clearly a color?  I seem to be particularly obsessed with navy mixed with primary colors (yellow and red) or with clear white.

I have cut the pieces to my second Collette Rooibos dress, out of navy and white polka dot.  I’m making the facings from self fabric, to preserve the stretch, and as in my first dress I am eliminating the little collar.  It doesn’t fit my dress form at all, but don’t let that concern you – my dress form is bigger than I am, and sadly that is not something I can fix.  My piping for this dress is a bright white satin.  I hope to complete this over the weekend – since I’ve made it once before I am hoping it will go smoothly, although I expect some challenges from using a different fabric.  I had planned to line the dress, but I’m making a little half slip instead – I wanted to keep the stretch of the material.

I also finally managed to find a navy/white striped jersey for the top half of Kwik Sew 3758.

I will make the version with long sleeves, with the red silk cotton above as the skirt portion.  Yes, I know that I already missed the 4th of July!  My knit is a cotton jersey, and I wish it had some lycra in it… but it will be stretchy enough for this dress!  I couldn’t be picky, since I wanted something so specific.  You would not believe how hard it is to find a navy/white striped knit with stripes larger than 1/8 inch!  This dress won’t get made for a bit, as I’m thinking it will be more of a early Fall dress because of the long sleeves.  Maybe in August.

And finally, I’m using Simplicity 2599 (the sleeveless view with just the 3 ruffles) and this poly charmuse to make a blouse this month (to wear with my yellow beignet skirt, naturally!)

I am aware that I love blue based colors.  Even the jewel tones that I love are all blue based.  Does this mean I have cool coloring?  I’ve always been uncertain, because I  have some yellow to my skintone, and I do have red hair.  Might it be time to dig out that 1970s copy of Color me Beautiful? Have you ever had your colors done?  I have no idea what season I might be, but if you have any input let me know!