Monday, November 16, 2009

LindsayT's Choice...

...or Dress #3 in The Cardigan Series.


I bought this fabric from Mood this summer when LindsayT and I went to see the Isabel Toledo exhibit at FIT.  I knew from the moment I touched it, that I wanted to make a sleeveless sheath from it.  The fabric's design would work well with quite a few of the sweaters and jackets already in my closet so bringing it home was a no-brainer.

Some stats:

Pattern:
TNT Dress pattern yet again!  Aren't y'all tired of it by now! *LOL*

Fabric:
Wool & lycra blend from Mood Fabrics

Notions:
Black midweight lining 
22" invisible zipper
5 yards of satin bias binding

Construction Notes:
This is my TNT dress in its basic form.  The fabric does all the work because the design is so fabulous ~ well at least to me! *LOL*  There are just two things of note about this dress.  One ~ I used a mid-weight lining fabric for this dress because I wanted to give the dress some heft.  Even though the fabric is a wool and luscious, it still is a little lightweight. 

The second thing was that since the fabric is sooooo distinctive, I thought it needed a start and a stopping point...you know somewhere your eyes can light upon to rest from the busyness of the fabric.  At first I thought that I would use black piping and even went through the exercise of pulling out all the different types of black piping in my trim stash...who knew I had 4 different types!  But I was about done with piping after the last dress and as I fell asleep last night it came to me that I still had some satin bias binding.  So I used that at the neckline, the armholes



and the hem...I really wanted to contain that print!



That's it!  It was an easy sew and no I did not learn my lesson.  Didn't try that dress on until I was getting ready to hem it.  But since I had made no radical changes to the pattern, it fit like it was suppose to:



and with a 3/4 length black cardigan:



This dress also goes with two other black cardigans in the closet, a black jacket from my 2007 SWAP and a little white wool jacket that I made years ago!

I have just one dress left to go in The Cardigan Series...and then I want to make up a couple of solo pieces that will work with existing pieces in the closet...unless I get another crazy idea and go off on a tangent!

...as always more later!

35 comments:

  1. Love your dresses! Thanks for your comment, YES I always need new tops.

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  2. The print says it all. Pefect keeping it simple. The satin bias tape was a good idea. You look very stylish!

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  3. I just love this dress on you! I love the fabric and the jackets along with cardigan will work great with this.

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  4. You're so right - the print is this dress, not all the fancy sewing details. The satin binding is perfect and you look fabulous!

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  5. I am a lurker, always reading your blogg and marveling at what you accomplish in sewing. Just want you to know, I love this dress. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Love this one Carolyn! You look fantastic in it. It looks great with the cardigan, too!

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  7. I love this dress! I don't think that if I were shopping and saw this fabric that I would realize the print actually makes vertical stripes. It's very flattering! I have a question about the cardigans.Are you making these? Where do you find the fabrics?

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  8. What a great fabric! The dress is a stunner and looks wonderful on you.

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  9. Wonderful fabric and the dress is lovely and very flattering on you.

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  10. You look fabulous in your dress, very flattering.

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  11. Looks great! I love the satin bias binding. I bet that you will wear this dress a lot!

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  12. That dress is so flattering, just looks great on you!

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  13. I want to borrow that dress. I'll need the pearls and the shoes too!

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  14. Another superb dress - the satin bias really was the perfect touch. Looks terrific on you Carolyn!

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  15. You are on a roll! Another lovely dress. I'm a sucker for a basic sheath and the pattern is gorgeous.

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  16. A beautiful dress Carolyn, You look fantastic in it.

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  17. So glad this one fit out of the box. Beautiful fabric, love the black satin piping...and love that you're working it with what's in the closet. Great addition to the wardrobe. 3 days

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  18. Gracious, what a fun fabric ~~ a geometric with stripes. Great call with the piping. Another winner!

    Rose in SV

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  19. Really cute. I totally agree with you that 1) it's a waste of labor to lose complex construction in busy fabric 2) great prints look better in simple designs.
    And you see, you don't need to swap officially, you've already got 3 things to wear this with :-).

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  20. Love the fabric, love the dress, and what a relief that it fit as it should, of course it should, but a relief anyway.

    The satin binding is lovely with this dress, just perfect, allowing the fabric to shine.

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  21. This is SO pretty, the binding is the perfect touch.

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  22. This looks so great! Lovely work.

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  23. Carolyn you never fail to keep it real and keep it fashionable and doable. You are such an inspiration. Thanks for taking the trouble to share your projects with us. Dawn

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  24. Ooh, wow, I made the headline! You must have gotten my brainwaves wondering "When is Carolyn going to do something with that fabulous fabric she bought at Mood?!" This dress turned out so great, C! I had forgotten it was a vertical stripe—always slenderizing. Excellent fabric choice and I'm thrilled to have been part of this dress's manufacture.

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  25. The satin trim is so subtle, but adds a lot to the look. Gorgeous dress.

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  26. I like that with the long cardigan! Lovely use of trim.

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  27. Beautiful dress. I love that it coordinates with other items in your closet. Great use of fabric design.

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  28. Really cool fabric. It looked like it might be one of those embroidered fabrics Fabric Mart was selling a while ago. Close up I see it is printed. I would not to have thought to use it vertically in a dress, but it looks fantastic. Good save on the other black and white dress. The little pleat looks like a planned design detail with the collar and the pin.

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  29. Perfect fabric choice, i love this dress esp the hem.

    Angie R.

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  30. I am enjoying your latest wardrobe series that you wear so well. Always fun to see what you do with the designs and details. Your energy and productivity is incredible.

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  31. This is one of my favorite versions. The binding was a brilliant idea.

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  32. I remember when you bought this fabric. Oh yeah, I think Lindsay made you buy it. Anyway, I love what you did with this. The pattern speaks for itself. You will definitely be making a statement in this one. LOVE it!!!

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  33. LOL. Is this the fabric that I tried to pinch when I was in Jersey? I loooove this. It's so fun but still sophisticated!

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  34. Just gorgeous! I love it.

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