Red Carpet Copycat: Marion Cotillard in Dior

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So… this jacket was sent to me by blogger Being Zhenya as part of a blogger swap organised by Martyna at Spoolish and Miche at Buttons and Birdcages about two years ago. Two years?! Yes, I know it’s been a while, sorry Zhenya. I asked her for something to refashion and she sent two great items from the thrift stores of Minneapolis. I’m a bit sad that it’s taken me this long to get to it, but the package didn’t arrive in time for the original post deadline so it went onto the back burner.

Anyway, it’s a poly-rayon women’s blazer in a brilliant cobalt blue.

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It’s well used and looks a bit sad on the stand.

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There are a minimum of features – no lining, only one button, no cuff detail, no shoulder pads – there aren’t even any real pockets.

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Of course, as soon as I saw those pocket flaps, I was like – DIOR FALL 2012 – well, in my defence, it was November 2013 at the time.

Here’s Marion Cotillard wearing the object of our copycat affection in November 2012. It has a lace skirt and jacket style bodice with lapels – and pocket flaps!

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I started by removing the sleeves and I also cut off the button and the pocket flaps, playing with the overlap to see how much it could be overlapped without significantly affecting the collar roll line. I didn’t get a photo of it, but there are two darts under the collar that meet the shoulder, so I didn’t want to expose those by moving the lapels too much.

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I tried it on in front of the mirror and marked the amount of overlap with pins, as well as new dart positions on the front and back, and how much to take it in on both sides. The collar/lapels were unchanged.

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After sewing the darts, I cut it off below the waist and reassessed the overlap, the side seams and the shoulder points.

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I joined the left front and right front together with a line of stitching under the lapel (line of pins at centre front below).

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You can’t really tell that the fronts are sewn together.

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I tried it on again to mark the armhole shapes.

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I was going to bind the edges but decided in the end to cut a pair of facings for the armholes. I had to cut these from the sleeves as they ended up being quite big. I applied fusible interfacing to the facings for stiffness. As an aside, you can also see below that there was actually a minimal amount of lining near the original cuff!

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The facings gave a nice clean edge to the armholes.

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I reattached the pocket flaps at the waistline and basted them on.

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For the skirt, I scoured ebay to find some lace in a similar colour, and purchased a lining locally (a metre of each). I cut each in half down the fold line, joined them at the side and gathered both layers at the waist to make a simple dirndl style skirt.

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I toyed with the idea of trimming the lace around the individual flowers but settled for folding the selvedge up and topstitching. It looks OK.

Note the side left open for the zip.

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Here’s the finished dress:

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And here it is on. With apologies for the indoor photographs. I wore this on a night out at Lima Floral with a couple of friends but sadly it was too dark for photos!

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Back length looks a little long here – I may have to reevaluate. For the record, I am wearing a petticoat for extra skirt volume.

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I decided on pink and gold accessories, just for fun. My bag looks like a pomeranian (it’s faux!!).

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88 comments

  4. blissinger

    I like the way you finish your work, it looks very professional. You certainly made a nice silk purse out of that sow’s ear.

    Reply
  6. TaraLee780

    This one is really pretty. As a sewing novice with a hand me down sewing machine, I learn so much from this blog! I wish you had time to post every week!

    Reply
  7. Chris @ makeandwear

    Beautiful transformation – I hadn’t noticed the lapels on the black outfit – a lovely detail to copy. I have a large pile of clothes from charity shops that I’m slowly working my way through refashioned.

    Reply
  18. vintage51

    Reblogged this on Vintage Thrifter and commented:
    Check this blog out, she has such amazing seamstress skills. She creates so many beautiful things out of thrifted items. I am very envious of her talents and the results.

    Reply
  28. Linda

    Oh! That’s lovely! What a fab transformation! I am in awe of how you come up with the ideas. It’s a lovely shade of blue and the lace skirt just looks lovely. Popping in as part of my 300 blog comments in 30 days challenge.

    Reply
  32. Claire

    Wow! Love the dress, and that colour really suits you. Great colour match on the lace too. I’m trying to figure out why the original jacket looks so drab yet the colour is almost electric blue, must be the style. Great job!

    Reply
  35. princesst82

    I love this dress!! I’m so impressed at how you look at this blazer and think… hmmm dress! That’s talent

    Reply
  44. Dianna loftis

    Stunning dress. I even loved the way the pocket flaps was intgrated in your design. Genius!

    Reply

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