Gertie's Crepe Sew Along

As disappointed as I am to have dropped out of the Endless Combos contest, doing so has opened up the opportunity to Sew Along with Gertie as she tackles the Colette Crepe dress pattern. I haven't fully decided to participate, but geeze, it seems like a great opportunity to learn some new techniques while getting my hand held along the way. Gertie has scheduled the Sew Along to start on the 6th, which gives me about a week to get my pattern & fabric. It probably won't matter to much if I start out a day or two behind (surely I'll fall behind at some point).

There are downsides. The primary one being cost. The pattern is $19.40 including shipping & minus 20% off with Gertie's coupon code. Now maybe I'm cheap, but I've never spent more than $1.99 on a commercial pattern. However, Colette patterns are well known for their in depth instructions.

Also, being a wrap dress, it requires a lot of fabric. Over four yards. For each the shell & the underlining. But, I love me some fabric. So I've done some shopping. Here are my options.

First up is a really pretty Red Swiss Dot from Fabric.com. It occurs to me that I don't have a red dress. And I got to thinking that maybe every girl should have one. Now, Fabric.com doesn't have red batiste, but moodfabrics.com does, so I could order the underlining from there. Of course, that means paying separate shipping. Fabric.com does have ivory underlining, but since the Swiss dot is semi sheer, I don't really want to 'tone down' the red. I figure if I'm gonna go for it, then it's gotta be red all the way. :)

Next up are a couple voiles. The first one is pink with white dots. Pretty cute, but the description says that the dots are painted on. For some reason I envision them flaking off with time. Would that be accurate or am I just imagining things?

And lastly, a turquoise voile. I really like this color. I'd get ivory or white underlining for this one & the pink. Also, I'm going to do the tie in the same fabric, so I don't have to worry about choosing a contrasting fabric.

So, what do you think? Red, pink with white dots or turquoise?? I find myself leaning toward the red, but I don't know. The other two seem to be more versatile.