30.5.11

Underwater Dreaming Dress





Can you tell that I've been playing around with the self timer?  Trouble is, I'm not sure how to get the photo to focus on me, and not the background, which means that the details of this dress are a little obscured, sorry.
 
Fabric: "Underwater Dreaming", printed silk satin from Tessuti
Pattern: Vogue 8529, previously made in a silk jersey

This fabric was a gift from Colette.  The colours are divine and the shine is really opulent.  In spite of all this fabric gorgeousness, it has taken me a year to make it up.  It was that whole stripe dilemma thingy.  I would sit down at the table, pattern and scissors in hand and go...stripes across?  stripes up and down?  to the mirror.  pin.  pin.  pin.  oh, I don't know. an hour later, put everything away again.

Genius that I am, it only took a year to figure out that I could mix them up a bit.  No project runway deadlines in this house!

The wide hem band and the princess seams give the back of the dress a bit of a mod look.  The front cowl does not drape as nicely as my jersey version.  It is possible (can't quite remember) that I changed the grain of the pieces to get the stripes how I wanted them, so this may be my fault, rather than the pattern drafting.  I love the colours.  When I slipped it on during a late night sewing session, I suddenly looked a whole lot less tired, so one of these colours must be "my" colour.  Just need to figure out which one. 

The fabric did fray.  It would have been nice to use French seams, but I wanted to fit as I went, rather than make a muslin, so I just finished my seams with an overlocker.

12 comments:

Mary Nanna said...

the colours are really beautiful on you and I love their intensity. Silk is so good for that - the lustre is what brings us back, even if we have children who will dirty them up faster than you can say, "don't come near me with those hands"

Bernice said...

I've never seen someone look so gorgeous while waiting to use the toilet...or sultry (Photo #4) . A gorgeous dress. The colours and fabric are stunning. Looks all very chic with the leggings and boots. Great placement of stripes!

Karin said...

What beautiful fabric! It does make me think of "under water."

Sheryll said...

Gorgeous fabric and perfect name! Great use of fabric on the hem band too.
Re focus, try a) selecting a central focusing point and standing in the middle, or b) manual focus! Using f8-f22 will help!

Sue said...

Great dress - I wonder if it is the dark navy/blue that is 'your' colour as it is closest to your face.

Gabrielle said...

Oh lovely - what a great idea to use the fabric this way, with those amazing patterns showing the structures of your dress. I used this same fabric for my intended Christmas dress - a straight up and down kind of shift, much less of a challenge :-) Pictures here if you're interested http://upsewlate.blogspot.com/2010/12/intended-christmas-dress-belatedly.html . I'll bet there's no more of that fabric at Tessuti - it's so amazing....

Christina said...

Gorgeous fabric. Looks great with the tights that you've got on too.

Sigrid said...

What beautiful fabric/colors. Makes it a great dress.

marysews said...

I LIKE this dress!

kbenco said...

You are so clever with your fabric manipulation. Your dress looks rich and lustrous, but completely wearable for real life.

Murfomurf said...

I like the dress and fabric! I think I have some similar silk but the stripes are deep magenta, olive, black and pale blue. Well done- eventually! I decided a few years ago that I wasn't going to worry about stripes any more- I'm terribly short but used to be skinny as a rake. As I got older I became wider and felt nervous of horizontal stripes. But then I thought 'Why worry about something that's peripheral to real life?' and started making horizontal stripes whenever I felt like it. It works for me- some people DO comment, but what a waste of time listening to negative people!

Gail said...

I think I may just have to get my hands on some underwater dreaming of my own. Beautiful dress - love the simplicity of it. Let the fabric speak for itself.