My sewing machine has been working overtime during the last week and a bit, quickly trying to make the last few things for Daughter No 1. The departure for her planned travel to Asia, Australia & America has finally come. Amongst the things I made for her (which I will cover in another post) was this dress. She wanted something that would just hang, not cling, and be cool to wear in the tropical humidity of Thailand, something suitable for cocktails on the beach in Fiji & totally wearable when exploring Rodeo Drive. It needed to have fullness, but not be a tent. She didn’t want extra fullness in the front, hanging from the bust. She drew me a sketch of what she had in mind, then left me to it.
I started with her close fitting bodice block, drawing a one piece dress block and then converting it to the lingerie block. This involves reducing ease and doubling the size of the bust dart. For the dress pattern the bust dart was moved to the underarm position. I added a section to the side, from the waist to make the fullness. The double darts in front and back were eliminated, but the back dart was effectively transferred into the centre back, making the back shaped and fitted. I also needed a swayback adjustment of about 2cm. I intended to use an invisible zip in the centre back, French seams throughout and self bias for the top edges and straps.
The toile revealed that I needed a swayback adjustment, and that I needed to alter the fit of the top. Daughter No1 wanted it a little looser. I was concerned about the hang of the handkerchief section, but hoped that in the silk that we’d chosen that it would look a lot better.
The silk was given to me by a friend, it’s got the most beautiful sheen and drape, but for me, it was just a little too bold. However, Daughter No1 loved it! The bands are a red and white hatched pattern, while the blue is actually purple and black. I only had two metres and it was pretty narrow but we had just enough to squeeze the dress out. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough for the bias strips. Thankfully that wasn’t the case in the end, I didn’t really need that much bias. But please remind me that working with narrow bias in silk really isn’t easy, and tries the patience of anyone, especially when you’re up against the clock.
I made the pattern on Saturday night, toiled it midday Sunday, made the adjustments and got cracking immediately. It had to be finished by 11am on Monday morning!! Needless to say I was still handstitching bias at 11am so we left a little late for the airport, but all was good, she loved the dress and stuffed it into the rucksack straight away! I am hoping to see photos of it in far of exotic places on Instagram soon! Here it is on Betty, my vintage mannequin.
I love the drape at the sides, and the slight drop of the handkerchief hem. I really do hope it sees lots of wear in the next 6 months!
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 