You guys, I have a new favorite dress.
You know how you have a fabric you love but you love it so much that you can't decide what to make with it?
And how you also covet an expensive pattern, and you keep the info for it on a list to wait for the day when you happen to be at the fabric store when that pattern line is on sale?
And how SOMETIMES your creative brain puts those two things together at the right time?
That's me, with this dress.
The fabric is a cool First Order print that came out a couple of months before "The Force Awakens" hit theaters.
I loved it so much when I bought it that I literally drove home with it in my lap so I could look at it when I was stopped at lights.
The pattern was Vogue 9145. I LOVED this the second I saw it. It's modern and different and SWIRLY and it has a full skirt.
Once I had the pattern in-hand, I thought about all kinds of fabrics I wanted to use for it. As you may have noticed if you've read any of my other dressmaking posts, I am a fan of knits. This dress has a LOT of pieces all stitched together, and if I were making it with wovens, the pieces would be cut on the bias. But, ever on the quest to experiment and find my own way, I started thinking about how fun it might be to make this dress with a combo of a knit and a woven.
That's when it struck me. I had that yummy directional Star Wars print, and loads of black French terry (I buy it in large quantities when I find a good deal). I decided to cut the print on the bias as called for in the pattern, and then cut the knit on the straight of grain.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to eke out all the pieces I needed from my First Order print. The pattern called for 3 yards, and I only had 2 1/2. Since I am shrimpy, I cut several inches off the bottom of each pieces at the hem, and that enabled me to get all my pieces cut from what I had on hand. While the cutting took a while, the dress actually went together rather quickly, once I had my pieces in order. (I recommend either keeping each cut piece of fabric with its corresponding pattern piece, or using stickers to label each cut piece.)
I eliminated the facing pieces, and instead used a thin strip of knit as a mini-facing to finish the neck, arm openings and hem.
The actual sewing only took about 2 hours total. No zipper, as there's plenty of stretch to pull it on.
And now, I almost feel like I should apologize to everyone for how often I'm going to wear this thing. Bear with me; I'm in a Star Wars swirl trance.
