The new Colette Rue dress is beautiful.
Can I say how much I needed this dress? Stitched up a few days before my 30th birthday, everything on this dress came together in a breeze and was a reaffirming piece about how far I’ve come in my sewing journey. I’ve been sewing for over half my life and seeing how quickly and easily this came together for me was a relief, to be honest.
The Colette Rue dress features these pretty pleated details on the bust line and super fun piping detail to make the bodice POP. The piping is listed as optional, but if you’re making this for yourself, definitely include it. The fabric I chose for my piece is pretty busy and the piping really breaks up the pattern without being “too much.”
I spoke about this fabric in a previous video, my August 2016 Haul, so definitely check that out to hear more about it and how I picked it up at Mood Fabrics in Downtown LA.
Other details about this dress that give it a luxe feeling is that its completely lined (!!) and features tons of hand sewn details. The hand sewing part of it makes me extremely happy, though, because they’re details only I get to see and appreciate.
The fit is fantastic but I did have to do some random fidgeting at the paper pattern level regardless. My video goes into a little more depth about it.
Either way, I love this piece and can’t wait to wear it again to go out dancing this weekend!
Disclaimer: This post was made possible by Colette Patterns who kindly donated this pattern to review :)
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Thanks so much for the video and review. Beautiful dress on a beautiful woman! (And yes, any excuse for a petticoat. :))
Thank you so much for the comment, Wendy! And yes- all the petticoats!! I actually want to order a couple new ones in some crazy colors, I think.
Yours is definitely my favourite version and f this dress I have seen yet! Very sophisticated! Lookin good girl! ❤️
Thanks, Christina!!
My you are a pretty girl and your dress is gorgeous! Who ever took your pictures did an awesome job as well. I’m a lot older than you (63) but I am going to try an “older ladies” version of this when my pattern arrives. I have some light linen that I think could be nice in this and a tiny printed cotton as well. Decisions decisions…… Or maybe a Christmas dress? I’ll definately need the FBA so will be following the sewalong. I’m in Canada so the pattern is taking a bit longer to get to me. Now I have lots of reading to do on your excellent blog. I will sign up for updates as well. Great job!
Thank you, Margo!
A holiday dress with this pattern would be a stunner. Black or red velvet? I can absolutely picture it! Thank you so much for your comment and for subscribing!!
You look stunning in this dress. Thank you for taking the time to make a video too- super helpful, informative and inspiring! I will definitely be following your blog now that I’ve found you!
Hi Beth-
Thank you so much for commenting and following! I hope you see more things in the future on this blog that will continue to inspire you to sew!
Hi, you look so pretty in the Rue dress !! I watched (and thank you) for your video and signed up on both your blog and you tube. I’ve only been sewing for a couple of years, would you suggest that I could make this pretty dress? Thank again
Hi Claudia-
Thank you for your comment! If you’ve been sewing for a couple years, you’ll be good to go making Rue. The instructions are all very straight forward and explained well so there shouldn’t be too many crazy problems haha! Also, when in doubt, make a test version! I always super recommend it; it ensures that when you begin cutting into the pretty fabric, you know exactly what you’re doing.
Good luck!!
I saw your dress on the Colette blog and I had to visit at let you know how beautiful it is. I think your choice of main of fabric with the piping detail is actually just stunning. I gasped and I couldn’t scroll past with out seeing more of this beautiful dress! I agree with Annabelle, this is my stand out favorite of all of the rues i’ve seen so far, I wasn’t really sold on the pattern but now I think I’ll give it a go!
Hi Cate-
Thank you so much for your comment, it absolutely means a lot to me that so many people liked the dress :D It was so fun to make! And I’m glad it inspired you to give it a shot- I’ve all ready worn this dress a bunch of times since finishing it up; it’s such a go-to now haha!
My gosh. That’s a beautiful dress. I would love to make it, but I’ve heard it’s not great for busty girls as the piping lands too high on the chest. My measurements are dead on for the size I would need. In your opinion, would the piping land in the right place?
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Hey- Thanks so much for your lovely comment!
If you haven’t had the opportunity to sign up for the sew along, I believe that Colette is going into a little bit more detail as to how to make sure the piping looks good around the bust line. I’m a DD (roughly 40″ bust) and the placement of the seam didn’t bother me too much, but I think that’s due to my torso length being really small; I appreciated that it made my torso look a little bit more normal.
And lovely blog, btw! The pictures are all fantastic!!
Great video – thanks for taking the time to make it. I think I may just have to give that dress a try. Happy day to you!
Good luck making your dress! I’m sure it’ll turn out great :)
I was not sure about how this dress would look on me when I first saw the introduction of this pattern. Then I watched your video and studied all your pictures and I started to feel more comfortable. The reason being is because I have a shape similar to yours and this dress looks beautiful on you! I will have to take my time with this dress, but I believe it will be worth it. I also wanted you to know your fabric choice was perfect! Cannot say enough nice things about your lovely dress! :-)
I just subscribed to your blog and hope to learn much from your sewing experience! Thank you for being a tester for this awesome dress!
I’ve found with my sort of shape Rue is really great with a belt to do a little extra cinching and a petticoat with the full skirt, too, so definitely give those tips a shot.
And the fabric was definitely a lot of fun to work with and not fussy at all; super happy with it.
Thanks for subscribing and commenting!
I have been tempted with this pattern although in my middle years I have not been too sure whether I should make it. But it does look lovely on you and I might just give it a go.
Thank you for your comment, Diane! Definitely give the pattern a try; I can absolutely see it in a comfortable wool for the office or in a wine-red for a holiday party!
Yum yum delightful dress on such a pretty girl. I’m curvy, too, and 61 years old to boot, but I want to make this dress. Thanks for the inspiration!!
Aw- thank you so much for the lovely comment! The pattern is super versatile and looks great without the petticoat for the the day-to-day :)
Love the video and your dress is so beautiful. The black and white works great with your coloring. I would be intwrested in how you did the full bust adjustment with pleats instead of darts as you said. Could you do a post/video on just the FBA for the rue? Im sure we arent the only busty gals that love this dress. I cant wait to make one up. Love it. Also, Im subscribing to your channel feom now on. Do you ever do vintage patterns??
Hi Stephanie! For the FBA, I drew a dot for the bust point and drew lines from the center of each of the tucks to the bust point. The third FBA line was to the neckline, since I needed to close up the neck a little bit for my narrow shoulder distance. Overlapped at the neck, spread at the tucks, with the BP being the pivot point. I didn’t add any length because the bodice was all ready long on me as it was. Would love to do a post or video about it, but I think the Colette blog is going to be going into more depth about it next week and I just kind of winged it.
Thank you so much for taking the time to subscribe to my channel! Right now I’m focusing more on vintage reproduction patterns as I build a bigger vintage pattern stash and learn more pattern grading techniques.
Thanks again for your comment :)
I got here following a comment on the Colette blog and now I feel like I need to take time off work just to go through the entire blog archive <3 Your dress is absolutely stunning. I can't wait to get Rue in the post and make one for myself.
Thank you so much for checking out the website and tumbling down the rabbit hole over here- really appreciate it! Will you be following the Rue sew along on the Colette blog? I was thinking of making another version for myself, actually!
OMG you look soooooo pretty in this dress!!!
Awww- thank you, Marsha! I appreciate the comment!!
Oh, wow. I love your dress more than the ones on the Colette website! I actually think the lines of this dress are more flattering on a curvy gal versus a not-so-curvy gal. Great job and happy belated birthday.
Thanks so much for the compliment, Annabelle! And thank you for the birthday wishes, too! I think the main difference between my pieces and the ones on the main website is that I wore a petticoat under mine which really gave it the extra pop! Any excuse for a petticoat, I say :)
This dress is so beautiful! I’ve just watched your video, such a cool process. Handmade with love really.
Thank you so much for your comment! The process was a lot of fun- not a lot of super difficult skills, but challenging enough to be interesting.