Today, I’m sharing my review of the Fibre Mood Ruby Dress, sewn in that world famous merino jersey from The Fabric Store.

This Fibre Mood Ruby Dress was one of those palette cleansing projects. I really wanted a quick satisfying knit sew after a few more involved projects.

And sometimes those projects can tend to disappoint me.

Luckily, this Fibre Mood Ruby has not fallen into this category – I’m really chuffed with how this turned out.

So much so that following my initial ochre merino version, I also whipped up the lilac version as my first sewing project completed in 2023. So I finished 2022 and then started the new year with the same pattern!

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And the best part is that, from tracing it off my paper copy of the magazine to completion of the dress, it was all done in a single evening.

Granted, that evening lasted until 2am. But, hey, we’ve all be there in “I need to get this project finished in just one night” mode, right?

My Fibre Mood Ruby Dress

My Fibre Mood Ruby dress is size L at the bust, graded to a size XL at the waist downwards.

On the Ochre version, I made a slight modification to the neckline – deciding to make it a cosy mock neck. The lilac version uses the neckline as included with the pattern. I prefer my modified neckband – I think it works well with the cosy style of the dress.

I did struggle a bit with the instructions for the hem, which is finished with mitred corners. But, I don’t want to place any blame on the pattern as I was sewing at 1am and simply desperate to finish. I also didn’t even bother to check the written instructions when I became confused.

So on the Ochre version, I actually completely messed up the hem, through no fault of the pattern instructions, since I didn’t even look at them properly.

For the Ochre version, it ended up such a dog’s breakfast that, after leaving the finished garment while I travelled over Chrismas/New Year’s and coming back to it, I realised it just wouldn’t work. So I cut off the hem and re-did it in a simplified manner. This is why the ochre version doesn’t have the split hem as designed. And is a bit shorter than the lilac one.

For the lilac one, I managed to get the split hem in there but I was so scarred from the first time around that I didn’t want to figure out how to get the mitred corner to work in a knit, so I actually skipped this and finished it in an easier way.

All in all, I am very pleasantly surprised by this dress. Often oversized shapes don’t make me feel as good as I had hoped but I really love wearing this Fibre Mood Ruby Dress.

My personal preference is to wear this Fibre Mood Ruby dress with waist shaping rather than just as big huge oversized jumper-style dress.

I wasn’t sure whether to add some kind of elastic at the waist for shaping or some kind of self-fabric belt or whether to stick with the flexibility of using my extension collection of belts for waist shaping. For the lilac version, I have made a self-fabric elasticised belt but it doesn’t look great.

So I think I will be sticking to my Sezane belt options.

Now, sometimes making the same pattern in two different colours can help provide us with some insight on our style and colour preferences. I really like both of these colours (which is why I chose them, obviously). The ochre is a staple colour for my wardrobe whereas the lilac is branching out somewhat, following fashion trends.

Well, it is clear to me when I see these on me that I vastly prefer the ochre once it is actually on my body. The lilac makes me feel a bit washed out and gives me slightly nightgown vibes (although perhaps the length also contributes to this)?

So, while I like both versions, I prefer ochre which brings me an insight which should have been clear to begin with – that sticking with the colours in my wardrobe colour palette that I know I like is usually a safer bet than following the trends!

Nonetheless, I’m very happy to have these two versions. So, for me, the Fibre Mood Ruby dress in merino has proven itself to be a cosy winter winner.

And did I mention it only took ONE NIGHT to make?