Sewing Daydreams

I spend a lot of time commuting back and forth to work especially during this time of the year when it seems there is so much more traffic.  I spend a lot of that time surfing the web on my iPad and dreaming of sewing projects.

Although lately I've noticed that even though some of the garments inspire me, I'm much more interested in figuring out the garment's construction versus actually sewing it up.  So as I was perusing Erdem's Pre-Fall 2014 line, I happened upon this dress...

Erdem Pre-Fall 2014 - style.com

I like this dress.  I really do.  It's the combo of printed top, solid bottom and turtleneck that caught my eye.  But I have a really long list of garments I want to sew this winter and I know that only a half to 2/3rds of them will actually make it from idea to my closet.  So what to do about all of those other things that inspire...

Sewing daydreams...where I take a few minutes/hours/days to work the construction out in my mind.  For the dress above, I realized that I could use my TNT pattern as the basis.  I've already used the crossover v-neck top, a band and a skirt bottom on two summer dresses I made back in 2007 ~ here and here (the post accompanying the dress' photo is actually quite funny). BTW, I wore both of these dresses last summer, though I've made some alterations to them to fit a little better.

That part of the dress would be covered.  It was how do I make the turtleneck work and it hit me - dickey sewn into the dress. I could take an old cotton turtleneck or buy one and cut it up to add it to the neckline.  The thing is that I would want the dress lined so I would have to work out how to add a lining, but it could be done.  

The only thing I don't like is that there is no back shot of the dress. Since these collections are just being shown and not shipped to the stores yet, I really have no idea of how the designer made the back.  Me, though, I would use an invisible zipper in the turtleneck and dress back.  Why?  It would just make the dress easier to get into.  And why a back zipper versus a side zipper in the underarm?  I don't like side zippers but it's definitely an option.

Do you see now how I can while away hours sitting in bumper to bumper traffic happily immersed in sewing daydreams?  And it's not only the construction but what fabrics would you choose to make this up in ~ that can suck up hours of time, too.

Now I'm sure you're wondering, why go through these exercises if I'm not going to actually make the dress.  Sometimes it's just because.  Sometimes it's because it gives me clues/answers to future garments or things that are languishing on my must sew list...and sometimes after going through the construction sequence, I get inspired and the dress makes it onto my must sew list.

So while I may not be physically sewing...I am always sewing in my daydreams. How about you?  Do you have sewing daydreams?  Do you think about how garments are constructed and work out construction sequences? Just wondering if I'm daydreaming alone! *LOL*

...as always more later!