The Painterly Dress

Skipping past a couple of unblogged 2014 makes for now, here's my first dress of 2015:

the painterly dress! 

Front view, painterly dress

Isn't this fabric pretty? I think it looks so painterly, if that's the correct word - it reminds me of flowers and reflections in puddles, and impressionism! 

Polyester twill from The Fabric Store

The fabric is a medium weight twill from The Fabric Store in Sydney, and I suspect probably made from 100% polyester - whatever it is, it was tricky to sew! My serger adored the fabric, but I had a lot of trouble getting the tension right with the fabric in my sewing machine, which is why the princess seams are rippling. I'd sorted out the tension by the time I sewed the skirt, so the skirt side seams are fine. The bodice also looks like it's pulling so I guess for a fabric with zero give I should have allowed myself more room. I do realise I could have unpicked and resewn the bodice with a little more room and with the improved tension settings, but when I unpicked a small area to try to do just that I discovered the old needle holes remained very visible on the fabric, and I only had miniscule scraps of fabric left over, so I decided to chill and put up with a bit of rippling and pulling.

And the dress pattern? Well it isn't really one thing or another, it's the Libby A-line skirt from Tessuti patterns, which I've been meaning to try for ages, combined with princess seamed bodice from an old favourite of mine, DKNY pattern V1193.

I've made V1193 a couple of times now with sleeves (here in a red ponte, and here for my "Out of Darkness" dress), and used the bodice without sleeves at least once more (here for example in Pink Panther fabric for the Sew Dolly Clackett challenge), so I pretty much know by heart how to make it fit me properly. On this occasion I used the same minor adjustments as usual (essentially I use several sizes - size 10 for the shoulders, size 12 at the bust, size 14 at the waist).  I initially added length to the whole bodice but then ended up removing a wedge of fabric at the back for what is apparently not so much a sway back as a short back (thank you Lara for reminding me about Beth's post on that adjustment!). In the photo below it looks like the back is still a bit long, but I had my shoulders back for these photos, and usually when my posture is not so good I need that little extra back length.

Shortened back bodice

There are lots of pure Libby skirts on the internet (see Jillian, Rachel, and Elizabeth, for example) and if you want to see this fabric sewn up differently, check out Emma's Simplicity pencil skirt.

I cut this Libby skirt in a size 14, and then found I could trim about an inch from the sides when I attached the skirt front and back to the bodice front and back - the skirt was a lot wider than the bodice - so I guess I had mismeasured myself. Anyway, it was super easy to attach the Libby skirt to the Vogue bodice, and I only wish I'd got the skirt size right in the first place because I suspect if I had, the skirt darts might have lined up with the princess seams! Anyway, the darts are completely lost in the print, so that's just something I'll bear in mind for any future Libby + Vogue makes.

I would have liked a deep hem on this dress but the skirt was shorter than I anticipated, so I finished the hem with some coordinating satin bias binding, machine stitched in place.  It would've looked better with a hand stitched hem, but the bodice is all sorts of imperfect anyway, so it didn't seem worthwhile!

Hem finish - satin bias binding

The bodice is fully lined in a nice satin that I picked up second hand ages ago.  I sewed the lining with a bit of extra width, but it's proved unnecessary given how little the outer fabric moves. The lining is understitched around the neckline, and handstitched in place down the zipper tape and around the waist.

A bit of hand stitching

What else? Well there's an invisible zip in the size seam, and although I've got more of that annoying rippling happening in the seams, at least it's consistent front and back - my seams aligned nicely at the waist and the zip is nearly invisible!

Side view with invisible zip in the side seam

Close up of the invisible zipper in the skirt section

Over on the other side of the world I know plenty of sewists are looking forward to Spring, but with this dress I feel like I'm only just kicking into Summer gear - Summer, you've GOT to stay a bit longer! 

See you soon

- Gabrielle x

Out of Darkness: A Dress

It seems I've got a new black dress to show you:

Or do I... 


        Half a black dress?

Wah-hey, it's BLUE!

 Hallelujah, my colour vows* are SAFE!

*: not really vows as such, more an observation at the end of MMM13 that I should wear colours more :-/

 

Do you recognise the pattern??






Hey don't worry, this is not pattern trivia; I wouldn't expect any of you to recognise it, but it's Vogue 1193, an OOP DKNY dress pattern.


My previous version (2 years ago! Wow!) was red ponte - so different!

I sewed this up as a size 12 in the upper bodice / shoulders / sleeves, and a 14 from the waist down, as usual - and it feels like a really good fit. There's a little extra room at the waist and at the shoulders, but I'm not too fussed about it.

And in any case - even though I'm kind of ecstatic about the way the dress looks to fit from behind - for me this dress is all about the fabric. I bought this amazing stuff 6 months ago at Tessuti Fabrics on a whim, and I was absolutely busting to make a wiggly, fitted dress with it, but I was scared I'd mess it up and waste the fabric. 



You can see in the photos below what my fabric looked like as I dried it in the sun, back in January. A dark floral border print starts along one selvedge and extends to about the centre of the width - and the fabric is really wide:

The fabric is a stretch cotton (+ ?), with the stretch running from blue edge to black edge. The print reminded me of the OTT D&G fruit print dresses from not so long ago... dream, dream...



My "vision" was to have the flowers growing up one side of the dress, trellis style, and for the fabric to wrap around me without obvious breaks in the side seams and without any big flowers in the wrong places. Obviously I didn't go so far as redrafting the pattern to remove side seams (!!) but I did spend a few happy hours moving pattern pieces in different permutations on the fabric and working out how the flowers on the angled (due to side pleats) front skirt could be made to look like they were running up the same line as those in the non-angled bodice.

 

With the centre back seam very stark, I moved the invisible zip to a side seam. I have to show it to you because I think it's my best invisible zipper ever - YAY!
 

I had so much fun making this dress. And I know it's going to be so much fun wearing it! 

 

See you soon

- Gabrielle xx