You know what is great about New Years Eve and Day? For the most part, everything and everyone stops. Except for restaurants, CVS, and a few other stores, all businesses are closed. Even the internet and blogs go quiet as people recover and recoup for the previous night and year. For those who adopt a new year’s resolution, the day and night before is their chance to indulge in the one thing (or many things) they’re never going to do again. Well, I kind of had the same type of splurge moment. My goal this year is to become a better seamstress – to get into projects more by researching the fabric, improving on techniques involved, etc. – but on the first day of 2014, I made very little black dress, in one day, based on an image I found on Pinterest. Beat that, Lauren!
About six years ago and while I was a student at SCAD, I made a dress based off of a Balenciaga design. It was a simple silhouette, but the difficulty came from the bust darting and shaping of the skirt. The bust darts came from the CF seam and the skirt was one piece that wrapped around the waist and back on itself (I used irregular darting to get the shape of the half peplum). That was one hell of pattern to draft/drape! The fabric was a wool cashmere – divine! Well, I barely had a yard and a half of the fabric laying in my stash since, which I finally used up with this dress.
A to-be-blogged about project (coming soon!) is Simplicity 7456 and I used the top pattern of the outfit for this dress. I sewed the front and backs together, tried it on, and then traced the CF opening. I then top applied the lace, cut out the fabric from behind, and then serged the opening edges (the lace edges were left raw). The armhole and neckline are finished with lace binding that was first applied to the wrong side, and then flipped to the right side and stitched down with raw edges exposed. I had very little fabric to work with, so the bottom of the dress was finished with an overlock (I didn’t have any fabric that would make a good facing, considering the heaviness of the wool/cashmere). Oh, and this dress is short, very short! Thirty five inches to be exact. Dress or tunic? That’s on how I am feeling!
Wearable? Well, it’s certainly not bra friendly. Whether it’s an everyday piece or not, I freaking love this dress. Just like you don’t regret the one too many drinks you consumed on December 31st, I do not regret whipping this up in a day. Thank you Pinterest!
Thank you to The Loom, a local warehouse made up of lofts, artist studios, and office space for small businesses for allowing Bekuh and I to come in on a very cold saturday to stretch our creativity. They view the building as a frame and all the individual tenants as its fibers. Combined, they weave together to become part of a greater hole, just like an actual loom. We had a blast outfitting the giant space to our liking and we even had company – a band practiced below us, so we had constant entertainment. We will be going back to use the space again! Click on the post footer below to learn more about The Loom.