When I was shopping for my next round of Cali  & Co posts, I came across this lovely textured double knit and just kept coming back to it again and again.  That was a sure sign it needed to be in my cart!

It’s a dramatic fabric, so I decided to pair it with a correspondingly simple pattern — the new True Bias Lodo Dress.  This is a simple knit sheath with a slight cocoon shape.  It calls for a heavier knit without a ton of stretch, perfect for Cali Fabric’s wide variety of double knits!

With a gorgeous textured fabric like this, my mind automatically jumps to evening or office wear — something to dress up with a nice necklace and pumps.  But beautiful fabrics like this shouldn’t always be relegated to the dark!  So today I wanted to show how what seems like a “fancy” fabric can dress up and down when paired with a nice, simple shape.

First, my Lodo dress is very easy to dress up for date night, the ballet, or even for the office:

But it’s equally great paired with simple flats, a fun hat and a chambray shirt for a weekend running errands with kids in tow:

And the great thing about double knit is that is has all the comfort and wearability of knits but is easy to sew like wovens.  It works equally well with either a serger or sewing machine — in fact, I sewed almost this entire dress on my sewing machine!  The serger touched the center back seam, and that is it.

Cali Fabrics has a nice selection of double knits, so take a look for your next casual, or not-so-casual dress project!