Billowing Burgundy.

After an extremely long hiatus away from this blog, I finally took images of the finished curvy blob dress (which I finished last year after lots of sewing and ‘un-sewing’).

I was actually not in a massive forest but in a pretty little local park, mingling with spiders and other such creatures. I had to fight with mosquitos but did end up with a few adequate photos.

Tany J

Progress of the Drafted Dress

Here is the progress so far on my curvy blob dress. I used a wool cashmere blend in a burgundy colour, which provides a soft texture and sufficient volume to the skirt of the garment.

 As you can see, I hand basted the skirt to the bodice then machine stitched over it to firmly secure the two parts together. I then painstakingly incorporated a hand overcast stitch to the perimeter of the curvilinear edge in order to prevent fraying (not that the fabric frays that much). Even though I marked out which edge corresponded to which in the bodice and skirt, it took multiple attempts of small adjustments to get the perfect drape on the front skirt. The back of the dress is still in its basted stage, hence it will be a while before I get that perfect drape for the back as well.

On another note, I am back at uni and work is piling up…fast…but I am managing so far.

Tany J  

Draft of the Drafted Dress

This is the muslin for the dress I drew previously. Because the book from which I based this dress on did not give any sewing instructions, I had to guesstimate how Tomoko Nakamichi – the author and pattern making genius – went about sewing those extreme curvilinear shapes. From the images provided, I could not determine if the bodice and skirt was sewn the conventional way (attaching right sides together) or if she broke the rules like me by sewing the two with one wrong side facing a right side (as seen in the lower picture). If I look closely at the photographs in the book, there seems to be a series of overcast stitches surrounding the edge of the curvy part of the bodice. If that is so, it means she would have chosen the unconventional way. After multiple attempts at trying to sew the bodice and skirt the conventional way via both machine and hand sewing, I decided to choose the alternative option as that gave a better overall drape to the skirt and was ten times easier to sew (or maybe I am just not skilled enough yet to do it the right way).

Furthermore, after finishing the dress, I realised that I sewed the back backwards. The pictures do not depict this very well but when the dress is at rest the lower blobs protrude outwards when they are supposed to sit behind the fullness of the skirt. The good thing is that this is just a draft so hopefully I don’t get distracted and repeat the same mistake in the actual dress. Other than that, I should be good to go on the actual fabric (after I draw a few facings, and maybe the lining but I can do that after I get the main part done J .)

Edit: Actually after re-examining the pattern pieces, the back was not backwards, it was just my not so perfect sewing that made it appear backwards...I guess I will have to continue working on my sewing skills.

Tany J

Oh So Curvy - Drafting a New Dress

This is the dress that I am going to work on for the next week or so before I begin uni again (hopefully it won’t take too long). The dress is based on “a pinafore with kakurenbo design” in Tomoko Nakamichi’s book, Pattern Magic, but with added sleeves and a continuation of the curvy feature at the back. I will use a basic bodice pattern which I made some time ago as the starting point and a nice wool and cashmere blend for the dress fabric J

Additionally, in the meantime I will be working on the cherry blossom painting.

Tany J