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| Colette Crepe |
I had originally bought this fabric to test a pattern, but that didn't happen. Then I remembered that I had a copy of Crepe. I've always wanted to make this dress - a woven wrap dress with a lovely sweetheart neckline? Yes please.
But - that isn't what I ended up with. And not for lack of trying. I traced crepe - because that's what I do and matched the bodice up with a double darted bodice I have that fits well. Then I tried to make it fit on my fabric. I'm guessing my now - you know it didn't work.
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| BHL Elisalex |
So, then I turned to my Elisalex bodice, because while I've never made that tulip skirt and had it look good on my hips - I love the bodice! It fits well and flatters. So - I took a page from Carolyn's book and layered my pattern pieces, I put the center front of Elisalex on the bottom, then put the Crepe over it, topped by the tracing paper - of course, I didn't think I'd blog this, so no photos.
Then - I made a new tracing of the center back. Keep in mind that Elisalex has armhole princess seams, not darts - and it works for me. My changes were only made to the center sections - the parts that went to the shoulder. Once I had that new back - I literally just drew a new v and went with it! The bodice is fully lined.
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| Butterick 5930 |
Of course, I stupidly cut out the bodice pieces before even making sure the skirt pieces would fit on my yardage. And - as Murphy's Law would have - they wouldn't fit. I did not want the skirt that I generally put on the Elisalex bodice, nor did I want to put the Lilou skirt on this bodice - I wanted a full and flirty skirt. There is a huge stack of patterns on my cutting table and Butterick 5930 was in my line of vision. Hmmm - wonder if it will fit. The skirt is pieced and has princess seam lines. I measured the pieces of my bodice and the skirt and adjusted as necessary to make the seams line up - not that you can tell in this print!
I was able to cut most of the skirt pieces (and by most I mean the center front and back pieces, but no side pieces) from the yardage I had left.
There were large pieces of fabric - that were almost big enough. So - I pieced in some fabric to make it work! I couldn't even get JB to see what I was trying to show him while taking the pictures- again - it's all about the print!
I hand picked the zipper. I think this is the 3rd hand picked zipper I've done and I really like doing them. I will admit - I'm still not perfect at lining up the top of the zipper.
Because my bodice fits and falls at my waist - the skirt hung even and I was able to turn up a 2" hem. I put pockets in the dress and then put in a machine blind hem. Because - print!
I stretched myself a little bit making this dress - changing things, layering patterns and drawing what I envisioned. Piecing fabric to get enough and basically just making it work. I really like this dress and I'm glad to have worked through it and added it to my closet!
