I am so proud of myself for being on top of things this week! I've got this post up, and I'm so excited to share this weeks garment with you! It's very likely that I'll either miss/ or be late with next weeks due to holiday stuff happening. But never fear, I'll do my best to stay up on this.
The Challenge: Use a piece of random fabric given to me to make a new garment each week. Must use all of fabric (only scraps leftover) try not to buy any additional fabric to complete garment (hunt through fabric hoard for fillers such as accents/ linings) try not to buy any notions to complete garment (use stock zippers, buttons, bias tape, snaps buckles ect. when possible) I did not cheat this week Yay!
This weeks fabric: Started with a tan colored Poly Crepe de Chine with a small white floral non directional repeating pattern. I'm assuming Poly because it is yet another lacking information, but I know for a fact it is not silk, although it does press well. Definitely not silk which means it's most likely polyester. I had two yards and 17inchs, which translate to nearly 2 1/2 yards at a 45' inch width. So even though I have more yardage than usual, I also don't have a much as I would like but the 45 width really cuts down my yardage.
The minute I pulled this fabric out I immediately thought of Claire Beauchamp from the hit series Outlander. Now if you want my personal thoughts on the series I'm not crazy about it, and it's not a must watch for me. Oftentimes I do get sucked into these historical dramas even when I don't care for the storyline thanks to the hard work of the Costume director and team. While I only really watched the first season I did enjoy the attire of the cast and the dress Claire get sent through time in, heavily inspired today's garment.
Now I wasn't trying to recreate it, I just wanted to do my own spin on this garment, like I said when I first pulled this fabric out of my box this dress was the first thing to pop into my head. Once I measured everything out I felt pretty confident I would have just enough fabric to make this happen.
Earlier this year I had made an engagement gown for one of my clients, it was long sleeve and floor length, super fitted, but I liked the shape of the bodice. so I went through my pattern drafts until I found it, I knew it wasn't perfect but it would be a good start. Now Claire"s dress looks to me like its cut into two pieces, Bodice, and skirt, the bodice has classic front darts with a keyhole cutout, the skirt has small box pleats and the waist seam is hidden by the belt.
I didn't want to cut mine in two pieces (although that would have been easier to fit on my fabric) so I decided to remove that waist seam and cut the front and back in one piece. For the front I kept the same silhouette but went to town in the dart department. I used 4 fisheye darts to bring in the waist and two small darts coming in at an angle from the armhole. On the back I repeated the 4 fisheye dart practice, and also added two angle darts in the neckline. I also added darts in the sleeves which is a very vintage practice, it also helps to better shape the sleeve. I put in a 16 inch zipper, I would have preferred a 22 inch but I only had one in my stock in the correct color and, like I've said I try not to purchase things for these challenges, that's part of the fun lol. Now I'm pretty confident Claire's dress was made from a knit and didn't have a zipper, but mine is made from a woven and needed it if it was ever to be worn lol.
Once that was done I hemmed up the skirt and sleeves then drew out the keyhole placement. I had to cut that and then make a matching bias tape to bind the keyhole and neckline. I have a box of vintage wooden button, I pulled out a brown one to sew on, then made and stitched up the loop to go around it. Since no 1940's Dress is complete without shoulder pads I cut out and stitched up a pair for this dress, which really rounded out the garment. I used nearly every last scrap to make this dress work. I really love how it turned out, sometimes the simpler the dress, the more special it is.
When it came to photographing this dress I really wanted to be outside in the green just because this is a dress that looks like it needs a green background. Lucky for me not only did I move to a beautiful house across from a green Orchard, but the raid let up just long enough for me to take some photos. On top of the the clouded really complemented the mood of this dress which made me of course super happy! I feel like every week I end up happier than the week before with what I managed to create. Anyways thanks for stopping by, this dress as well as many others are available for purchase in my shop! Feel free to stop on by and have a look around!
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