Monday 7 November 2011

Nautical Diner Dress!

Yep, I did it. I crossed the beams. I created a garment that references two of my main stylistic obsessions: 'nautical' and diner waitress uniforms. Can't you believe it?! I barely can! Basically, it's a faux-shirt dress with three functioning front buttons but also a concealed side zip so you can get in and out of it. The skirt is made from two gathered rectangles. The sleeves are my favourite kimono/dolman/grown-on variety. The collar has contrast anchor print fabric on the revere. So now you're acquainted, let me tell you the whole shebang.

I think the most important thing you should know about this project is that is was a total arse-on. I blogged about the pattern on which it was based (pictured below) back in October 2010 but didn't start doing anything with it until about June/July this year. I finished this dress just a few weeks ago. EXACTLY. Five months on one dress. Not five solid months, obviously (there have been many other projects that got done inbetween), but even my epic Winter coat project took less than two months, all told. I just hit a brick wall that only the accumulation of time could provide the motivation to get back in the saddle and finish it off. 'So, what happened?' I hear you ask....

The keen-eyed amongst you will have noticed that my dress has a full skirt, yet the pattern pictured above has not. I was all for the pencil skirt variety as illustrated, and thought it might be fun to play with the contrast nautical colours and make the skirt part from some blue drill that I'd had in my stash for years. However, the skirt for the pattern didn't use darts to create the shaping, instead it was gathered into the waist. I couldn't see how that would be particularly flattering as it would kind of be adding bulk, and anyway would be totally inappropriate to do in this thick-ish drill. So, I used the basic pencil skirt that I used when frankensteining together the pattern for my Summer Holiday dress. The original dress pattern also had a kind of fly front, which I tried to incorporate back into my new version, and only just had enough fabric to squeeze the pieces out. I got fairly far with the construction then decided to try it on. TOTAL. FAIL. I cannot find words to describe how terrible it was looking.

By putting the offending half-made garment on the dress stand, you can see that the whole balance of the waist is off. The front it much higher and slants down towards the back. So obviously the normal straight waistline of the pencil skirt I'd added to the bodice was being pulled up at the front and was just all kinds of wrong. I was so disappointed having put so much love and (wo)man-hours into the project by this point, I just bundled it up and shoved it away until I felt strong enough to attempt a resurrection.

Up until that point, the whole thing had been time consuming but was going pretty well. This pattern taught me how to do underarm gussets, in the same way (and at more or less the same time) as Karen tackled her own for her fabulous retro floral dress, the only differences being that I used some interfacing to secure the area on mine, and then I added some top-stitching. And uncharacteristically, I was actually into adopting this new fiddly method and expanding my sewing repertiore. The revere collar malarky was also a bit tricky to get nice and neat, but I took my time and was really pleased with the outcome. I hemmed the sleeves by applying satin red bias binding that I hand-stitched in place to get a super-clean edge finish. And then the aforementioned skirt drama struck and it took the wind out of my project-sails (no pun intended but welcomed!).

Eventually, after a fair few successful projects, I came back to this UFO. I unpicked the blue skirt and tried the bodice on with no skirt attached. I got my boss to mark on it an even and straight waistline, which I then recut as the new bottom edge of the bodice. Unfortunately that meant the waistline is a tad too high, even for me and I have a naturally very high waistline but that couldn't be helped. I then unpicked the side seam on the left side so a zip could be inserted. I snaffled some more of the red fabric (from an enormous roll at work) and made the full skirt, inserted the zip and hand-stitched the skirt hem: job done.

So, final analysis: overall I'm happy with it. The waistline is a tiny bit too hight, but that can be disguised fairly well by adding a belt. Adding the belt also helps to overcome the fact that it is too wide in the waist area. When I was cutting out the bodice pieces out, I added a bit extra to the side seams at the waist because my waist measurement was bigger than the measurement written on the envelope. The eventual largeness in the final garment's waist may be due to the fact that I've lost a few pounds after a horrendous stomach bug I had a few weeks ago (silver linings and all that...) or the newly-raised waistline sitting somewhere slightly different than intended, or because the fabric has a bit of stretch in it; I'm really not sure. But I'm sure as hell not going to do any more unpicking of this dress so cinching in the waist with a belt is what is going to happen. One more quibble is that the fabric is a bit itchy (which I should have known because it's the same fabric I used for the skirt of my Frida Kahlo dress) so I'll make sure to wear it with a vest and tights. My trial run on Saturday went ok, but when I teamed this dress with my Captain jacket, I looked very Japanese school girl! Ah well, you win some...

28 comments:

Katherine said...

This dress is KILLER! Congrats on finishing it, it looks very lovely.

x
Katherine

Kestrel said...

It's really cute, I like it! Well worth the time spent on it.

Em said...

This dress is so cute! Love it.

Anonymous said...

It's really cute, you should be well pleased. :)

Such a horrible feeling when you put on a dress you've labored over and it's just dreadful... There should be a word for that. Disdress? Dressappointment?

Anyway, nice save. :)

katherine h said...

Nautical and diner girl! The best bit about sewing your own is getting a style that is totally "you"! Have fun wearing this one.

No Regrets, Inc. said...

Zoe, it's wonderful. You do beautiful work. I hope you put your hair in an amazing bouffant like Flo in Diner when you wear it. You could work on a diner on a boat!

The contrasting collar is so cute. And I love the gussets under the arm...really interesting.

Tilly said...

"A total arse-on" - is that a technical term? I haven't come across it in my Good Housekeeping Home Dressmaking book. Well, you learn something new every day... and it sounds like even super experienced advanced stitcher you have learnt some new techniques with this dress. Always satisfying, non? Sorry to hear it took so long, but you do learn lessons from these epic projects, especially when things go wrong. The finished product is absolutely stunning! xx

Lynne said...

It's fabulous!! Happy wearing!

niddetissus said...

I LOVE this dress and it certainly doesn't look like you had trouble with it! Hopefully after some time passes you'll forget the trouble and just enjoy the dress.

Anonymous said...

It's fabulous, Zoe! I love it. Your kimono sleeves and collar are both gorgeous. I'm very impressed with your patience and stick-with-ability. It's a corker dress and very you. NB I've noticed that big projects take me a good three months, so your five months still seems reasonable to me!

Elise said...

Aah its gorgeous! Love the nautical themed collar, so pretty :)

Anonymous said...

So cute! Diner dresses always remind me of twin-peaks :)

Gabrielle said...

It's worked out brilliantly - and well done for persevering with it.

Meg the Grand said...

FABULOUS! Congratulations on finishing it - love the color you chose!

MrsC (Maryanne) said...

Lady in red! It's lovely. :)

Alessa said...

However long it took, it looks FABULOUS on you! I've also got a weakness for diner uniforms, not to mention a *huge* one for red dresses. :D

Tanit-Isis said...

It's great, what a saga though! I do love that original pattern picture---I wonder if the original skirt was cut to accommodate the uneven waistline? Hmm.

I like the position of the waist, even if it is a little high---I'm short-waisted as well and often I feel like it's better to exaggerate it than to try to hide it. And again, that's sorta the look on the pattern envelope, too.

Good save!

Bunnykins said...

Great dress! You look just super in it! And two gold stars for perseverance.

Minnado said...

Great dress Zoe, well worth all the time and reworking. I like the nautical fabric collar.

Sølvi said...

Goooorgeus! I really love the collar (naturally), and it seems to be a nice save. I once had a UFO laying around for five years. So five months is nothing! :-)

Lola said...

que color más bonito tiene el vestido!!!!

besos

Marie said...

This dress is rockin!!! All that work and fiddling around was soooo worth it!!!

Hazza said...

GORGEOUS. I love it! Inspirational (as always)g

Jess said...

BOOOOFULL! Looks great on you :)

Unknown said...

Well I think it looks FAB! Love it, you look gorgeous and I need to make myself one just like it!

Hillary said...

I adore it, great save! I love the contrast anchor print collar- and while I know wiggle dress silhouette is really killer on you, I think I like the balance of the full skirt against the larger collar (emphasized as it is with the white too) here!

frk.bustad said...

Oh this story sounds so familiar... I had more or less the same process with my V8280, that ended up with a 3/4 circle skirt instead of a wiggle skirt. Anyway, the dress looks so great on you, and that fabric has such a nice drape! Will you tell more about it (as in is it available on the neighbourhood store aka Internett)? I'm so into diners now, after having been to NY, so this is so inspiring!

ooobop! said...

How on earth did I miss this? I love it so much!

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