Today I’m sharing with you my take on the Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress. The pattern can be found in the 29th edition of Fibre Mood magazine. It’s also available in a top variation, although I myself was instantaneously drawn to its dress version.

And at this point, I am required to tell you that Fibre Mood kindly offered me an advanced copy of the pattern for free in exchange for me posting what I make with it during the launch of the magazine edition in which it appears. They gave me no other form of payment nor do they have any idea what I am going to write and share about the Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress.

Now, I’m all for transparency. And I fully understand the need to regulate hidden advertising in social media. But I believe that the boundaries could be better drawn between those who are actually seeking to profit or get paid in some way from sharing products on social media and those who are not.

To me, it does kind of seem contradictory that because I received a pattern with a retail value of about 15 euros, I’m required to identify myself in the same way as someone who would actually be paid to advertise a product. I also used about 50 euros worth of my own fabric to make this dress, and about six hours of my own labour. So, assuming I pay myself minimum wage, (which, as we well know, is a gross underestimation for the highly skilled work that is sewing!) I have made a net loss of about 175 euros on this project. Yet, somehow I still need to identify it as ‘paid’ content?

Meanwhile, every TV show or film we ever watch these days has millions of dollars worth of product placements in it that don’t need to be identified at all. What, because, we can’t interfere with the making of ‘art’?

Well, as far as I’m concerned our sewing projects are works of art too and I’m a little sick of having to identify myself as though I’m a walking human advertisement just because I accepted a sneak preview of a pattern.

Alright, rant over. You have been fully informed as to how I came to be in possession of this pattern. Let’s get to the important stuff.

What is definitely NOT a ‘net loss’ is the end result! Because I fucking love this pattern. So much. I would take it out for a romantic dinner, followed by a lingering walk around the city because we didn’t really want to say goodbye yet, then maybe just one last little drink …

And, in that ultimate of sewing endorsements, this is one of those special sewing moments, where you, dearest reader (sorry, too much Bridgerton-watching lately), can know without any doubt that I adore a pattern.

Because I immediately made a second version!

So let’s get started.

Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress: Classic Version

When I first saw a photo of Fibre Mood Alberthe, it was love at first sight.

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for halter neck dresses. But they are not exactly an ‘everyday’ kind of garment. So I feel like the Fibre Mood Alberthe works well as a bit of a classy twist on a halter-neck. I also like the fact that it’s not actually a halter neck at the back. A regular halter neck dress can give it a bit too much ‘beach’ vibe at the back, whereas this definitely feels more ‘summer picnic with fresh organic produce’ from the back.

Now another little thing I wanted to note, in case anyone else out there is as silly as me (unlikely, but it’s a big fucking world), is that when I first saw photos of the Fibre Mood Alberthe dress, it looked to me as though it might actually have some kind of front wrap scenario going on with the skirt part.

I just want to reassure anyone else out there who may have a similar general preference that their dresses be closed, rather than wrapped, that Fibre Mood Alberthe is not a wrap dress in any way. It’s all just a big pleat/drape that flows naturally from the way the neckline is set up, and all your leggy bits will be entirely and safely enclosed.

For my Fibre Mood Alberthe, I’ve gone with a light-medium weight navy linen. It’s nice and soft and has good drape for a linen. I think that the pattern will really look its best with a soft cotton or linen. Something with too much drape might not show off its interesting structure to its best but something that’s too stiff will get lost a bit too. I know the fabric photographs as rather black here, but it’s definitely navy.

My spirit colour.

Based on my body measurements at the bust, I selected size ‘Medium’. for my Fibre Mood Alberthe. Since this pattern uses the S, M, L size range, each lettered size actually encompasses a couple of different ‘numbered’ sizes. So there can be quite a bit of range across a given size.

My bust measurement placed me at the lower end of the size ‘M’, but when I sewed it up, it was significantly too large for me around the bust. I took in 2.5 centimetres at each side seam to make it work. So the ‘S’ would probably have been a better starting point.

The Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress is very easy to sew but the action happening at the neckline was not at all instinctive for me to understand. There was definitely a moment where I couldn’t envisage how it was going to all come together.

And so I had to embark on one of those most precious moments in the life of a sewist…

The sewing leap of faith…

You know the one.

You don’t really understand why the instructions are telling you to do something. But you take a deep breathe, lower your press foot, and just do exactly as they say.

Hoping like hell that these particular instructions weren’t written by idiot.

Well, I’m pleased to report that there were no idiots here. I followed what the instructions told me to do and it all came through like magic!

The moment I put on this Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress, I felt like I had found my dress of the summer. If, the summer ever actually arrives here in The Netherlands…

It feels put-together, simple, modern and interesting.

Fibre Mood Alberthe Dress: Hack it up

So, right after I finished my first Alberthe Dress, I decided I wanted a second version.

And I’ve been having a bit of a moment lately where my sewing philosphy is ‘just whack a circle skirt on it’.

So that is what I’ve done for this second version.

It is also made of linen, in a slightly more royal blue, almost purple, shade.

I stuck with linen because I thought it worked well last time and I am trying to do a lot of sewing through my stash lately. And, well, my stash is almost entirely linen!

In fact (she says with genuine pride while still trying to maintain an air of humility), I have almost finished sewing through my fabric stash. Can you believe it?

I only have about 4-5 fabrics sitting in there at the moment. And, coming from someone who had a fabric stash of about 100 pieces of fabric at one stage, I feel that I have made major emotional inroads in dealing with my textile obsession.

Of course, that previously enormous stash is now just an absurd amount of clothing which I somehow need to store in my wardrobe. But, hey, when a door closes, a window opens… Or some shit like that!

So, since I had a classic version of the Fibre Mood Alberthe already made, I had the wonderful advantage that I could simply try it on and figure out exactly how long I wanted to make the bodice to be used in my circle skirt version of the Fibre Mood Alberthe.

Having done that, I then added two darts at the back, in order to ensure that the bodice would be fitted at the waistline.

I was a bit unsure as to how I was going to deal with the bodice front, but luckily, I discovered that I was very happy with how it looked just forming a pleat at the front waist. So all of the shaping needed to actually make this work with the a circle skirt comes entirely from the darts added into the back bodice.

For the circle skirt, it’s just a 3/4 circle skirt that I took from another pattern.

And then I just whacked it on to the bodice and we have a hacked circle skirt Fibre Mood Alberthe.

Which I love just as much as the original!

This version feels a little more ‘summer wedding’ or ‘garden party’ (says the woman who hasn’t been to any such event in the last decade) whereas the regular version is something I would pop on with sandals on any warm day.

And both of them make my happy. Happiness in dress form…