Sunday, June 1, 2008

Pattern Recycling

Somehow or other, I must have appeased the sewing gods, because I was permitted to get the entire bodice and skirt from the Liberty fabric. There's something to be said for non-directional fabric, because the front was cut on the straight grain and the back was cut on the cross-grain, but there's no visual difference and the fullness of the skirt back makes it hang properly.

This dress has ended up all my favorite bits of my recent projects. After using V 8352 for the bodice, for the skirt, I used the back-pleated skirt from BWOF 4/2006 #122. Because the fabric wasn't wide enough to accommodate the whole thing, I folded one pleat out of the pattern piece, narrowing the skirt by a few inches. I also cut it about 1.5" longer because I haven't made up my mind about the dress length yet. For the collar, I used the gathered collar from BWOF 3/08 #108. I extended the collar by about an inch and added a few more gathers to make it fit. I knew as soon as I made that shirt that I was going to use that collar again; I just didn't realize how soon!

For the facings, I used the contrast fabric, and I really like how it looks with the patterned collar. I found some blue fabric in my stash that was a good color match, but in the end I thought it was too much blue, and the tan seemed much less like "hey, she ran out of fabric and had to substitute." It looks more like a design choice.

At this point I have a bodice (still without sleeves) and a skirt. I've had the two pinned together in various configurations but it hasn't yet gotten to the point where it looks like the dress I have in my head, so I guess the sewing gods aren't entirely appeased.

I've taken the rest of the day off and started working on a shirt for Mario made from some of the fabric he picked out in Paris. It's cut and stitched in a chevron pattern on one side of the front and the rest of the shirt is on the bias, so it's not a walk in the park either, but once the challenging part is done it's just another man's shirt, and I can work on it while letting the dress percolate in the back of my head.

Next up: deciding on sleeves. There's almost no Liberty left, and I do want to use more of the contrast, so I have to figure out a small sleeve, almost a cap sleeve, that will incorporate both fabrics. It'll come. I also have to dig through the button stash. I have some vintage buttons that will work on this, just not sure (again) if I want to use blue or light brown.

5 comments:

Paula Gardner said...

Well it looks super so far...I lust after that fabric!

Gwen said...

It's looking gorgeous so far! I can't wait until I am good enough to put together pieces of my favorite patterns to create something uniquely mine. And I'm really looking forward to seeing your final version of this dress! :)

Claire said...

Wow! Nice job! I really like the collar and the tan facing. How about a small sleeve like in Butterick 4799 view A or C?
http://www.butterick.com/item/B4799.htm?tab=tops&page=3

Dawn said...

Gosh, I love that fabric. That brown looks great with it.

Cennetta said...

Sweet!