My Tried 'n True Dress ala Chanel

Okay I've gone off the ranch on this one...and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not yet! *sigh*  Here is the inspiration picture...

June 2012 InStyle Magazine

I found this picture in this month's InStyle magazine.  This of course led to a round of internet spying...first on Style.com then on Chanel's site.  Watching the dress walk, trying my best to get a glimpse of the back, cause I just don't want to end up with coffin clothes so aptly named by Kathleen Fasanella...especially if I'm going to put all that work into the front of the dress.


Let's start at the inspiration picture...this dress is made from a supple ivory leather and InStyle says that the rippling iridescent chiffon ribbons are embroidered on.  However, when you go to Chanel's site, you can see that yes these are iridescent chiffon ribbons but they are stitched to the leather.

www.style.com

Well I had some iridescent chiffon ribbons in my notions stash and I thought that this application would be a great way to jazz up my TNT dress pattern for the 10 yard Adventure Wardrobe.  I thought it would add some interest to these basics and it would make sewing this more fun.  Me thinks I bit off more than I can chew.


The dress is almost finished and maybe I'll lose my trepidations once I've gotten it on my body with hair and make-up and I see a picture or two.  Maybe I'm just experiencing that space I seem to occupy whenever I make a complicated dress ~ and I know y'all are tired of me talking (moaning) about these challenges! *LOL*  


Of course, the most sewing intensive part is the ribbons...placing them, applying them, ironing them down and cursing at them!  I chose to go with the beige and light yellow ribbons that I had in the notions stash instead of heading out to Daytona and purchasing blue and yellow ones.  This is one decision that I am happy with...

maybe I should have chosen a darker background

So to apply the ribbons, I played with placement, then pinned everything down. Next I hand-basted the ribbons to the dress before machine stitching them onto the dress.  Then using a stitch that was 2.3 length, I stitched the ribbons down making sure that I used thread that matched exactly, stitching as close to the edge of the ribbon as possible.  Here is what the front looks like with the ribbons stitched on...

...and the back...

The dress will be lined and I'm playing with adding ivory piping to the neckline and armholes because I'm NOT adding the sheer ribbon...that won't last through a full day of work and it's the part I liked least about the original dress.


A few more construction pics...

pinning the ribbons down

sewing the ribbons on using my zipper foot

Since I used my TNT dress pattern for this, all the other construction details are pretty straightforward even though this has consumed my entire weekend. The next time you see this it will be on my body. Hopefully the finished garment will be what I see in my mind's eye.


...as always, more later!