Sunday, October 17, 2010

A finished object

In the aftermath of the Fabric Flea Market, I did muster enough energy to finish a sheath dress which had been in the planning for several years, and in the execution for several weeks.

I had purchased the fabric for this dress a couple of years ago on a flying trip to the Wool House when I was wearing  this jacket:



(I pause here to note that I hate Windows Live Writer.  When I first used it, it was brilliant.  Then I got a notice to update it.  Now I hate it.  I can no longer figure out how to format text around the photos – the previous version worked perfectly.  I think I’m going back to editing using Blogger.)

Back to the regularly scheduled blog.

As I was saying, I was wearing that jacket, which I seem to have made in November, 2007.  I know that because that's when I reviewed it on PatternReview (here).  I was having trouble finding pieces to coordinate with it – the fabric has some dark blue, some light blue, some creamy beige, but putting any of these colours next to it looked strangely wrong.  I dashed into the Wool House and asked for advice.  The man in the store led me straight back to the Zegna shelves and pulled out a bolt of the fabric I bought for my new finished object; this dress:


This fabric is thin, smooth, and I think it’s a blend of wool and mohair.  It has black and a grey-ey blue-y green-y threads and is an impossible-to-describe colour which somehow goes perfectly with that jacket.

This dress is made from a pattern I developed using PatternMaster Boutique or PMB.  I wrote all about it in a pattern review here.  I was thrilled to have a sheath dress that fit and that I thought looked pretty good.  I've never found a commercial pattern that did these two fairly simple things so this one is a keeper.

As soon as I bought the strangely-coloured fabric I knew it was going to be this dress.  Well, it had to be, because it was damnably expensive fabric and I only bought a small amount (I think 1.2 metres).  You see, another other great thing about this pattern is that it's a true fabric miser.

In this picture, the dress looks ripply and puckered.  I swear it does not look like that in real life.  Here's another picture, a sort of side view.  The pattern has lots of shaping seams - princess seams front and back and side seams and long shaping darts besides.











In the next pictures you can see a bit of the fabric up closer, if you click to open them.

They were taken in natural light so are somewhat truer to the actual strange colour which overall looks more green than blue.

Notice my not-perfect hand understitching at the neck edge.

To the right is the shoulder seam with princess seams meeting nicely.



The CB sports a simple slit opening for walking.  Notice the mitred corners.  The lining (Bemberg) is hand felled to the facing.  The dress is underlined with silk organza.  I decided not to serge the raw edges at seam allowances and hem to avoid show-through in the pressing, but found some black lace at the Fabric Flea Market which I used to finish the hem edge.  



And finally, it looks good with a jacket (or two).


17 comments:

  1. Fabulous dress. Beautifully made and it does go so well with the jacket(s)

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  2. Looks like an absolute winner to me! You could also dress-up the sheath for evening - one of those office-to-party dresses, no?

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  3. Fantastic dress! Certainly looks to be a pattern to keep, it fits you beautifully. The two jackets both look great with the dress.

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  4. Beautiful as always. Perfect with the jackets too.

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  5. Your dress is beautiful, coupled with both jackets
    the look is both classical and elegant.

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  6. Your dress is fabulous and the fit is spot on!

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  7. The dress is lovely. Great fit!! I tried to draft a sheath from PMB but it just didn't work so I put it down after tweeking it several times.

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  8. The dress is beautiful, but let's face it, what's not going to look great on your hour glass figure?! You inspire me to spend more time on the details and get things right. Thanks for your blog.

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  9. Wow, that's a great advertisement for PMB! Simply beautiful, as always.

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  10. That's a beautiful dress. You work for that perfect body to wear it, and definitely deserve it!

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  11. This dress fits you perfectly. You look great in it.

    Your perfectly finished lining is making me so embarrassed about the cruddy lining on my most recent skirt project. Hopefully someday I can get my linings to look this great!

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  12. What a beautiful dress ! It looks wonderful on you :-)

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  13. This is just so perfect! I have to say I also LOVE your labels. You are such an underachiever, being 1) a lawyer 2) volunteering and 3) producing impeccable couture clothing. Does it ever get you down? ;-) Sue Anfang (feeling inferior right now)

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  14. very very classy!!! I have been looking for sew in labels. Where did you get your label{A Sewing Lawyer}? Thanks so much .. Love your blog!!!

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  15. Yea, a perfect look(s)! Gawgeous dress!!!
    Y'know, despite swearing off labels or anything alike, I might just spring for some tags for my "desert un-combats" 2011 wardrobe - it's reasonable, isn't it, when you're sharing your wash with 4000 other people? - Very much thanks, your sourcing nudge is literally, in the nick of time!!!

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  16. I love this dress on you - sheaths are so perfect for work - and easy to slip on when you don't have time to think. It looks great with the two jackets. You did a great job with the couture hand sewing!

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  17. What a gorgeous dress. And the shape fits you beautifully!

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