Red dress from damaged yardage
Model Victoria Canon
https://www.modelmayhem.com/4250519
Seattle Model’s Guild http://www.smgmodels.com/talent/victoria-cannon-62079?profile=true
Instagram @toricannon
Makeup Nadzhe Green
https://www.modelmayhem.com/4098867
Instagram @nadzhe_gee.af
THE SLOW FASHION STORY BEHIND THIS DRESS
I made this red dress from a set of curtains I found at Goodwill. Below is a detailed visual account of what not to do and what worked.
My intention when I started working with this fabric was that I would make a dress I could wear to Malory’s Champaign tasting party where she would select the Champaign for her wedding. I anticipated it would be a simple project I could do over night.
I found this fabric in the curtain section at Goodwill. But it is yardage with unfished edges. Like all thrift store finds I tossed this in the dryer to kill any fleas or bed bugs or creatures that might be infesting it and to make sure it can withstand that much heat. If it can’t, it’s better to know at the beginning. Even dry clean items can usually stand the heat if they go in dry.
I loved the color and it seemed like there was an endless amount of the fabric. Maybe three or four dresses worth. I liked the boarder print and wanted to use the selvage as my hemline. Even though it has a slight pucker, I still think the gold is so pretty and a good choice.
As I pressed it, I found that it has small snags in places, some bleached spots and a few places where it is dirty or stained. I’m gave it a hand soak to see if the dirty areas come clean. They didn’t, but I was sure I could work around them. You can see the white spot in the shadow of the soup can I’m using as a fabric weight
And here you can see a branding mark I also have to cut around.
Just the idea that it might not be clean or washable made me think it’s was worth the extra time for the hand wash. Of course, that meant the project would take longer than the day I hoped for.
I assumed the fabric was polyester but as I ironed it, it didn’t behave like it. Then I suspected maybe it was silk. I gave it a burn test. No melting, but no silk crunch. I think it’s some kind of fine cotton, or linen maybe. Could be an acetate.
My ironing board has a floral pattern to it, which shows how translucent the fabric is. I plan to wear attractive nude colored underthings or a slip.
I found a simple pattern that is supposed to be easy, but I might have to size up in the hips to fit. I have a plan for adapting the sleeves and adding a side panel, so I have a seam to attach a drape for the sleeve flounces into. If I sketched the dress out I’ve lost track of that sketch, but since the sleeve is the only style element it is possible I didn’t.
I soaked the fabric in cold water and detergent for an hour. Lots of grey came off of it, but not much dye. I found that encouraging. But when I laid it out I still found white stains, which I’m cut around. Also, I’ve realized the boarder print doesn’t aligned very well with the gain of the fabric. I tried lining it up to one side of my table, since I’m thinking of the border as the hem. You can see that the selvage hands at different depths when the print runs along the table edge.
The New Look pattern is rounded at the hem line but I need the fabric to go straight so I it will be longer on the sides, but I want to take advantage of the gold and selvage so I’m going with that plan and uneven hem lines have been in trend recently so I don’t think it will look like a mistake, but it might feel more dated. I’m too big to use the long direction of the fabric as the width of the pattern runs into the boarder print if I do, so the dress will be just past my knee. Not my first choice, but probably a good length for a summer dress and it will be more versatile as it can go for less formal occasions.
I cut one sleeve on the bias. I think the fabric is so flowy it won’t make a big difference. And the sleeve is short. And possibly something I’ll do away with if I have time to embellish. Plain sleeve and dress done quick or attempt draping. Hmmm.
I think I’ll embellish it. I’ve removed the gold tops from some beaded thongs to use in the sleeve part and my plan is to use the cuff pattern piece with interfacing as well as the sleeve interfacing and then tack the gold part down by hand. I’m not sure my leather needles can get through it, so I might need to pierce a couple holes to sew through with the awl.
Love the gold with the red. I think I’ll make a concession to the peek-a-boo shoulder trend, and have some skin show through. The low end of the gold can be where I attach the flounces. Something like this
I’m making a pattern, so I can alter it to my size, which is bigger than the size 18 I’m starting from.
Today I started cutting and seeing the fabric in more detail I found there were many stains and a few snags.
I carefully laid the fabric out. Oh, so carefully. I fussed over it for about 30 minutes. And pined the slippery layers together and carefully marked and cut the front. Then I held it up to my body to see if I like the length and how it would look.
That’s when I realized how far askance the fabric skewed. OK, a full-dress width of fabric wasted, and more because of having to work around the white and black stained areas.
So, I pulled a thread and measured top and bottom ends of the selvage going in equal distance from the cross grain.
And matching the prints up and still fussing endless. This time I was able to cut out a front and back in good form.
But since I wasted the first big piece I’m running out of fabric and now cutting all the smaller pieces. There were a couple snags in the fabric in the back and a shadow of some dark stain that is only visible at the right angle and might pass for a shadow. But overall, I’m still excited and optimistic about the project.
Still cutting the facing pieces. This dress is supposed to be quick and easy, but I guess they didn’t count on me using such slippery fabric.
INTERFACING
Because the arm hole and cuff will provide structural support for the flounce and beaded décor I’m using a stiff jeans type interfacing for it. I should keep track of product details, but this interfacing predates that level of detail.
I’m not confident of my measurements and cutting so I’m sewing down the stiff interfacing at about 1/8” instead of the half inch the pattern instructions call for. I thought I’d try and French seam those but have reconsidered. Since I’ll see the inside of the white I’ll trim the seams as evenly as possible so they look good. I’ll count on the under stitching to keep things from unraveling.
Sewing the slippery fabric to the stiff one was challenging. I created a lot of bubbles, even with ripping seams out and repeating. I hope that because there is only one edge sewn to the garment this won’t be as much of an issue when I attach it.
For the neckline I’m going with something much lighter weight. Pellon, which I believe is a good quality one. I trimmed it by eye.
I followed the pattern directions for order of construction.
The big issue I ran into after sewing it in is how terrible it looks with the translucent fabric.
It’s white interfacing.
If I had at least used black, that would look better. For the arms, I used the reverse side, which is covered in red and looks better from the outside of the fabric, but on the inside of the sleeves it peeks through as this white mess and I’ll need to cover that, because for sure as I wear it, there will be times when the inside of the armhole show.
On the neckline, I tried adding a layer of trim. The effect of partly seeing the gold trim and selvage through the translucent fabric is stunning but too subtle to photograph, something you would barley see in real life. But when I sewed it in, the flexible fabric part matched up to the curved neck, no problem, but the selvage at the outside edge totally curled. I need to take that out and look for a better solution.
I thought of maybe gathering the selvage layer to the small side. But, now I’ve cut my endless bit of fabric into so many smaller pieces dodging stains and all that there aren’t any pieces lone enough to try that with. I think the best solution I can come up with is to find scraps of fabric big enough to cut complete facings and take out the old effort and try again with something full sized. With that and the hand sewing I realized that even if I stayed up at night I wouldn’t get it done. So, this is now a dress I’m working on for her wedding two weeks out. Another idea I had is to cut the facing back to ¼” and hand sew gold beads around the neckline. That just leaves a very thin layer of support at the neckline, but I think that could be OK. Do I trust my hand sewing enough to try that?
Try three on fixing the neckline. I found just enough scraps to cut another facing, which I sewed along the under stitching so that it covers the neckline. But it ran interference with the ad hock facing I put into the armpits, so I cut it back with pinking shears. A double layer of pinked edges shows under the collar facing, but I like that effect and am happy with it. Sorry no picts on any of this. But the big lesson is that with shear fabric, you need to think about how your facing will look from both sides ahead of time.
The selvage facing I used in the sleeves didn’t conform to the round shape of the sleeve, so it just goes across the shoulders. I used pinking shears to curve them both above the flounce and then carefully cut the white part of the interfacing back behind the pinked edge so it’s barely noticeable.
What was noticeable is that from the outside of the dress if I moved my arms at all, now the inside of the armpit shows white from the interfacing. So, I hand stitched gold trimmed selvage around the inside so that the flashes of inside the seam would look OK from outside. At this point I’m resigned to this being a photo and runway only dress as it’s a complete mess from the inside as anyone who puts it on will see. It’s very sloppy, but ever since I discovered two tiny holes on the back-neck line I’ve known this wouldn’t be a resell. But from the runway it will look great, especially if her hair is down.
SLEEVE FLOUNCE
I’m happy with how the sleeve flounce turned out. All my markings turned out to be indecipherable.
In the end, I just took one-inch pleats as I basted the ends together and made sure both edged measured 5”.
I sewed that between the interfacing and the dress body and I’m happy with how that part turned out. It was a little poufy, so I pressed it flatter.
In retrospect, I think there could be more fabric in the flounces. They feel a little thin and not quite as luxurious as I’d like.
I sewed the gold embellishments into place, and they didn’t look very nice. It made the area look a little busy and forced. Too much trying to happen in once place and not neat enough execution.
I moved them to the neckline where they help to hold the facing down and draw attention away from the double facing lines behind. I quite like the effect.
In the end I’m calling it done. I just need to find a slip or under dress for it to be runway ready and I have my first plus sized garment. It doesn’t go with the earth line, but I can think of several occasions I can wear it for. There is a fashion show in August where the invite says formal attire. Any summer ritual, full moon or sabbaths. Also, the red makes it a great Christmas season garment so it’s good for any Christmas celebrations and the winter solstice.
EPILOGUE
But the story doesn’t end there. I have not worn the dress, but I have been working to get photos of all my garments and I had a lovely model from Seattle Model’s Guild that agreed to do test with me and I really wanted a couple glamorous options. I pinned tucks into the back collar and used a broach to pin tucks into the front collar and belted it with a piece of gold rat tail. The tucks in the back covered the holes in the facing, which makes me happy, of course. And it worked beautifully for a night time photo shoot where not a lot of detail showed.
But unfortunately, I had my model hold still while carrying a lighted candle and the wax dripped on the dress and I haven’t been able to get that out. So now, stay tuned to see if there is a chapter in embellishments. Most likely beaded ones, that will cover that area. And create some added gold motif that circles the skirt part of the dress. Or some person who knows how to get wax out will appear and help me. Yes I tried ironing it out and washing it out so now it's really in there good.
