The Red Dress That Wasn't.

[chrysilla]

So, its ... a dress. The things I tweaked went right, but my fabric choice turned out to be wrong. As it turns out, not all 'knits' are created equal.



So... knits. I picked up the fabric at a Joanne's in NJ before I got the pattern delivered, because Vogue's website gives all the fabric specs on the webpage. Well, all of the specs except for the fabric guide on the edge that helps you determine if your fabric is stretchy enough. I think this is not stretchy enough, which is where things went wrong at the collar. The collar piece was smaller than the neck line, so the stretching would pull it flat against the skin towards the neck. Not for me tho. The instructions insisted I use double sided tape to put the neck together, which did not work at all, and as I took the tape off the neck line stretched out even more. Darnit. Next time, gadget.



One thing that worked out was my tweaking of the pattern. I was two sizes smaller on top than on the bottom, so I cut out the sizes that would fit either half and drew a gently curving line to connect them. So the body of the garment fits pretty nicely.



The fun bit about this pattern is the handkerchief hem. Which the pattern said to stitch together, creating a weird straight-down skirt shape with two awkward flaps flopping out at the sides. So I just took those stitches back out and hemmed those sides instead. The flaps might have worked better with a stretchy fabric too, but I can't imagine how.



When I went to the Joanne's, it had just opened two weeks before, so the fabric department was picked pretty clean by grand-opening-sale shoppers. So this was the closest 'knit' I could find to what I was looking for. Now that the dress is made I'm not really digging on the color or the texture, and it's quite plain looking. Will probably try this pattern again someday, but with properly stretchy fabric, maybe in a print.




I'll keep it around for a while to see if I can embellish it into something costume-y, or eventually recycle the fabric. It is somewhat comfy, and fits well, but ... something just isn't right. Poor red dress, you are too awkward to have the desired properties of a Red Dress. Back to the cutting board for me.

<3 Chrysilla