The Cara dress is the simple little dress that everyone could/should already have in their wardrobe. It can be worn in different ways: sporty with trainers, casual with ballet flats, and smart with court shoes. In short... it is a very handy little black dress offered to us by La Maison Victor. It has a fairly straight cut and is perfect for those with an H-shaped figure.
For those who want to highlight their waist, just add a wide belt with a nice buckle for style.

Image from the LMV site

Image from the LMV site

You can find this pattern:
- in the La Maison Victor magazine, November-December 2018 edition, sold for 8.95 euros and gathering other patterns in the festive spirit (13 sewing patterns and 3 knitting patterns) including a very pretty skirt.
- More recently, you can also buy it in PDF format on their site for 5.85 euros.

The Cara dress is available from size 30 to 48 with:
- a bust measurement between 72 and 116cm
- a waist measurement between 66 and 94.5cm
- a hip measurement between 82 and 122cm.

The great advantage of this dress is that its construction is very simple.
Indeed, the dress consists of 6 pieces:
- a front (with bust darts)
- a back
- two sleeves
- two pieces for the collar facing.

This dress is therefore accessible to most people even with a beginner level.
If you are learning to sew and have never made a garment, Cara is made for you. In fact, LMV has classified it as "start to sew", meaning for beginners.
Making this dress will teach you the first basic steps common to many women's garments, namely:

• Making bust darts
• Making a facing and assembling it
• Setting in sleeves
• Making hems (sleeves and bottom of the dress)

Moreover, you will learn to trace a clothing pattern and add the necessary seam allowances.
Finally, depending on the assembly technique used, you will be able to tame your overlocker or learn to overcast fabric edges with a sewing machine.

However, you will not learn to insert a zipper with Cara.
Indeed, Cara is reserved for knit fabrics which therefore have some elasticity. You can therefore pull it over your head to put it on.
For your purchases, count for a fabric with a width of 140 cm:
- 170 cm (size 30 to 32)
- 180 cm (size 34 to 44)
- 225 cm (size 46 to 48)
and depending on the firmness of your fabric, a little bi-elastic fusible interfacing for the facing.

For my version, I bought a pretty stretch black velvet fabric at La maison dorée. It is quite heavy which gives structure to the dress. It almost looks like there are shoulder pads as the shoulders are so well shaped.
For the actual assembly, I used the overlocker except for assembling the facing which I did with the sewing machine. For a festive touch, I added small crystals recovered from an old dress on the collar.

Given the thickness of the fabric, I did not make hems but a simple overlock at the bottom of the dress and sleeves.
If you use a thinner fabric, you can also choose to make a nice rolled edge and why not in a contrasting colour.