Thursday, April 22, 2010

Look what came in the mail today!


It's still unhemmed and unpressed, so more shots to come!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Dress 1 - Almost done!

We made some great progress this weekend! We're working with 2 Colette patterns, making 'practice' dresses out of each of them, comparing and tweaking the designs/lengths/fit... and then picking the winner for the real deal. I love Colette because they're gorgeous vintage-style dresses with some funk, room for creativity, and such tailored fits. She really makes beautiful patterns!
Dress 1 is Eclair, a strapless little cutie with a big sash that goes from the front side waist. The bodice is pieced together with 6 panels, meaning great tailored fit. Especially with Courtney's careful sewing!
She put the bodice together, we fit it to me and realized we could probably cut the bodice about 2 sizes smaller! But with the seams re-done, it was perfect. Then Courtney put the skirt together. Last up is putting them together, which is on tap for the next few weeks. The question with this dress is whether we would need to boning in the bodice. We'll see how strong it is with the lining once it's all done.

Next is up is Dress 2, i.e. Chantilly. I have to say, I'm a little enamored with Chantilly, mainly because it just has such a classic style and looks so flattering and comfortable. While Courtney was sewing away, I pressed the main and lining fabric for the practice dress, cut the pattern pieces and the main fabric pieces. This time, we cut the bodice smaller, so everything is to measurement on this one. It should work out since the pieces are joined by gathers at the midsection.
Once we have both practice dresses done (which I can't wait to wear!), it really comes down to fit and comfort. We'll try to imagine each dress in a calf or floor length (maybe?), in a creamy billowy fabric, dancing around at a bbq joint in NYC...