From Flop to Frippery

By way of a Tina Givens Meri dress pattern, no doubt.  You'll never know the places you'll go when diving into one of these adventures.

~ But I never thought I'd end up here! ~

Oh my.  You wouldn't either if you checked out the pattern picture.  But then again, if you've worked with these patterns, you probably know modifications, alterations and (for me) way out remedies are the name of the game.  Which is kind of why I like them.

~ I'm feel so liberated now ~

I started out with the least favorite fabric I had on hand in case it turns out to be a dud.  This is a double border ITY knit, of all things.   I try to figure out what size to use, but sometimes its rather difficult to do based on the pattern pieces when they're not consistent.  This dress used one piece from center front to center back.  In other words, there's no side seams.

~ just hanging out here ~

Shoulder seams didn't line up, the usual stuff.  I took up the shoulder seams 4 inches on each side because both the underarms and the neckline were soooo low.   The pattern photograph shows a high neckline.  So much for that.

~ another ready for take-off picture ~

It was supposed to be sleeveless, but since the armholes were wonky, I decided to use the leftover angled pieces as sleeves.  They were already perfectly cut for kimono sleeves.  So voila, on they went.  That was a surprise.  Now I had a tribal kaftan, kimono-esque dress.

I'm starting to like this thing.  It just needs something for that weird neckline, plus I don't like the way the center front flares out with excess fabric.  hmmm.

~ cruising ~

After a couple false starts on necklines, I found two long narrow triangular scraps of the fabric that fit together perfectly to form a neckline with ties.  I attached it like you would a bias binding and then finagled a way to sew the tie ends inside out, yada, yada, yada.  So there we are.

This thing is so much fun to wear, especially on a breezy day.  It's like instant drama.

And wouldn't ya know it.  I had the perfect shoes to wear with it.

~ screaming orange and magenta XOXO shoes from ebay ~

I'll be joining Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style (finally), Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie's Shoe and Tell when they all go live.  Hope to see you there.

Rusty Maroon, I presume

~ the color of my latest version of the Serena dress ~

The same as the Tina Givens Serena pattern that I modified in navy jersey and linen seen in my last post.

~ scarlet-fied by hitting one of those alteration buttons in photoshop ~

~ but this is more true to color ~

What a difference a change of fabrics makes in a dress.  Even though it's the same type of fabric with the same modifications to the pattern - whoa, this baby had different needs.

Again using only what I had on hand, the jersey was a lighter weight, heathered, brick red/black jersey with lycra and the linen was a heavier-weight, rough marsala linen with horizontal dark script in French.  I put them together based on color, but it was the difference in weight that made for some interesting construction dynamics.

~ see the horizontal heathered lines combined with the horizontal script ~

And the uni-suspender.  That heavy-weight linen pulled that light-weight stretchy jersey way, way down south.  I found that floral bit from a kimono tie I had previously sewn up, added button holes and used it to hold up the skirt portion.  I even found two perfect buttons in my stash.   The bit of horizontal stitching you see to left is some boro-esque play on the center back flap I was experimenting with...

~ ready for take off ~

I also had to raise the waistline under the arm area and raise the shoulder area to accommodate for all the downward stretching.  So there's little tucks and folds and boro here and there.



But how about those socks?

~ and good ole Trippens from ebay ~

And now it's time to celebrate with Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cheri's Shoe and Tell.  Hope to see you there!