Draped denim day dress

Here it is; the culmination of my draping class at WVC!  When I say draping class, the assumption is that there are going to be, like, a drape of fabric somewhere on the garment, but really draping is just another way to draft a pattern.  Many of the styles we did as exercises were not "drapey" at all, since the method lends itself well for creating perfectly fitted garments.

It looks very simple, but there are some tricky (to drape) and interesting elements to the dress.  Let's walk through it, shall we?  First up is the combination sleeve and bodice. It's essentially a kimono sleeve.  I love the above-bust seam line for us smaller-chested ladies.

The front bodice has a seamed center front and I used decorative red topstitching for fun.

There are princess seams in the front that transition into scoop pockets.

The back also has princess seams that end at the hip.

I topstitched the hem in red and used a red invisible zipper to tie it all together.  The back bodice/ sleeve combination has the same general shape as the front

My original dress didn't fit me because my dress form at school wasn't petite enough (despite grabbing the only petite form in the class), so to adjust, I took up about an inch on the upper sleeve seam, if that makes any sense.

While it's not the most earth-shattering design, it's very me and I kind of love the utilitarian vibe it has.  Also, within 2 minutes of wearing it to the farmer's market, a woman walked over to me to tell me how much she loved my dress and asked where I got it, so that was affirming.  It was pretty amazing to be able to say I designed and sewed it myself!

As a bonus for making it this far in my post, I've also photo'ed my mid-term dress!  It doesn't work on my body, so here it is on the form.  The assignment was to design using bias or other non-straight grain grainline.

The dress opens at the front at the waistline with a snap--it's kind of clunky.  The dress was a complete pain to drape and it doesn't look like I envisioned it, so I'm not thrilled with it.  Let's look at my final project again, since it was a pleasure to work on :)

Thrilled that this is one of the items I'm taking to Paris!

Plain jane shorts

I'm not a huge fan of shorts, but I recognize that living in California requires I wear such items (and probably with a sweater and scarf in November :).  I've been doing the "sporty skirt with built in shorts" for a while, but a girl needs some variety.  After cutting out the Plain Jane Dress, I realized I had a sizable amount of the stretch denim fabric left (about 3/4 yard, out of 2 yards total.  Yes, I'm indeed short enough to make a dress out of 1 1/4 yards of fabric.).  Quick as a bunny, I downloaded the Iris pattern from Colette, to you know, just see if I could make shorts from 3/4 yard.  And I could!  

I'm not nearly curvy enough to properly fit a pattern from Colette, so using the garment measurements, I decided to cut size 2 for the waist and grade down to 0 for the hips.  Before attaching the waistband, I tried the shorts on and they fit well.  However, the waistband was so incredibly curved, I knew it would  dig into my midsection in a very unflattering way.  It wasn't just a matter of sizing up, so I slashed and spread the waistband and recut my fabric.  I also cut "generously" along the upper side edge.

The resulting waistband fit just right.  No digging in, but still lays properly and doesn't move around when I walk or sit down.

The pattern.  Fitting issues aside, the pattern was fine.  I'd probably make them again, but a couple of things irked me.  For instance, sewing button holes after the pockets are complete was a pain in the buttocks, though I'm not sure there's a work-around for that.  And the front pockets are real, but not super functional. Next time I might make them larger and leave off the buttons. Since I need actual pockets somewhere, I added two functional welt pockets in the back.  

I used this tutorial, which is hands-down the best single-welt pocket tutorial around.  They turned out beautifully, and don't even add much bulk in the back-section.  

Sorry about the wrinkles!  I was wearing the shorts while I was sewing my new pink top.  I lined the waistband in this oh-so-adorable mermaid fabric from my scrap pile.  Love love love, but wish the ladies were right-side up.  *Sigh*

By the way, check out my bracelet!  How cute and summery is that?  My brother-in-law and his wife created Charity Gift Market, which is a marketplace for goods created by charities, and it was gifted to me from there.   So many fun products, and all to support great causes around the world.  

I like these as much as I can like a pair of shorts and will certainly wear them this summer (and maybe even this winter :).  If you haven't already, stop by Shorts on the Line to see the cute shorts folks are sewing up!