So, do I blog my failures as well as my successes? I've been wondering this and decided yes, as one of my reasons for blogging is to keep a record of my sewing. And I guess I'd like to know that other people's sewing didn't always turn out either....but perhaps I won't do a pattern review to direct everybody here to see the failures!
This was supposed to be a floaty, swingy sort of dress that would only take a couple of hours to whip up. Instead, it took me days and then still didn't turn out.
This dress is gathered onto a facing bodice, instead of having a strap run through a casing. I had tried on a similar dress and thought the facing was a good idea to control the gathers...only, I cut the facing from a dress I had made earlier, but before cutting the outer dress, I was distracted by the DKNY blouse blogged below...so I used the DKNY pattern for the outer....silly, silly mistake, as the shapes and grainlines didn't match...I really don't know why I didn't think of this before I started cutting. So then the dress looked like a giant balloon on legs....out came the unpicker to unpick stay-stitching, gathering stitches, basting, seams, understitching etc...at which point I was quite pleased that I hadn't matched the thread too well. I still didn't realise what the problem was, so I removed about 40 cm of width from the skirt...so it was no longer going to be a swingy dress. Eventually I got the front sorted, but I caught sight of the back of the dress in a mirror when I wore it out, and I don't think I got the back grainlines quite right.
The dress and facing were made of a cotton-silk blend. I used a silk for the lining. I had wanted black silk charmeuse straps, but could not find any suitable fabric locally, so I decided to use some ivory silk remnants in the stash. The ivory looked lovely against the pewter dress, but seeing it in this photo shows that it is not the right colour for me at all. I was also undecided about the necklace on the night, and I can see that it wasn't right either...I should have looked at the photo before I went...one of the reasons that I sew is because I don't much like shopping, so I don't have the fabulous shoe, handbag and accessory collection I need to complete my outfits.
2 comments:
Katherine,
I made a few dresses in a similar design in the 60's. The one which worked best was in a light weight polished cotton of a bright colourful design. I think here the colour is wrong and the fabric maybe has not got the right drape to give it that swishy feel. A little more weight in the fabric but still soft is better. However I think the top looks great and I would wear it comfortably.
Katherine,
I agree with Meg. I'm not sure the colour is quite right. Perhaps the straps are too neutral. It's OK but doesn't have the WOW factor!
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