The Architectural Dress - Part IV

The dress is finished except for the hem because several times today I noticed that the bias center piece has grown as its hung waiting for the next step to be completed.  So I've decided to let it hang for at least 24 hours to make sure that the bias piece has grown as much as possible.  Then I think I'm going to go in and reinforce the front seams with stay tape...and finally hem it.

However, this dress has been a journey and not always a pleasant one.  Am I upset or sad that I made the journey?  No.  Did I learn a thing or two from the journey?  Yes.  One of the main things that I learned is that no matter how much you plan, no matter how many times you go through the construction steps in your head, something is ALWAYS going to come up that you didn't think about or plan for so you should be prepared for it and have the ability to move past it! *LOL*

First some stats:

Fabric:
4 yards of 100% linen from fabric.com
2 yards of china silk for the lining

Notions:
1 22" invisible zipper
3 yards of nude lace
5 yards of rayon tape
1 large blue button (from Fabric Mart)

Instead of a whole lot of words...because you know the main design on the dress front is the pleats...I'm gonna share some pics.  But first, my dress front is different from the inspiration photo.  One because I think I was just too frazzled from a day of making pleats, so my pleats ending up not chevroning in the front of the dress.  And second I added a pleat and a button at the neckline...it's my touch added after I tried the dress on...definitely making it my own.

after making the pleats, I thread traced the pattern pieces

and then cut around the thread tracings for the front panels

front pieces cut out waiting to be

assembled to the side dress front pieces

close up of the pleated front pieces sewn to the side front pieces

Notice that the pieced piece is just sewn on the bias and not chevroned

dress lining made from china silk

close up of the lace added to the hem

The lining feels like a wonderful piece of lingerie added to the dress.

Close up of the pleat and button added to the front of the dress

I will have more construction details and a picture of me wearing the dress once the hemline has settled.  I'm not at all upset that the dress isn't wearable tomorrow.  I would rather the hem "cure" than hem it and wear it...only to have to re-hem it again.  I do feel as if I accomplished my goal of making the dress this weekend.  I don't think that I made an exact copy of the inspiration photo, though I was aiming too.  But in actuality, it is very rare when my own creative impulses don't kick in and I end up adding something to the inspiration garment to make it uniquely me.

It's Monday night and I don't feel frustrated...I feel calm and ready to face my work week because my creative side has been challenged, nourished and refreshed.

...as always, more later!

Architectural Dress Update

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on the last post.  However, the post was intended only for me.  I needed to write out my fears/challenges/hurts so that I could leave them behind and move forward in the process of making the dress...writing about them allowed me to get past them. 

I deliberately picked this weekend to make the dress because I knew how much time it would take for me to complete the dress...and that being said I've completed the front of the dress and am presently putting the invisible zipper into the back...moving on to the lining next.

The dress will be completed this afternoon...I'm through the tunnel and onto the other side.  I'm in the bright sunshine of Sewing Land and I'm happy once again.

I will have photos of the process and the finished dress to share later...

The Tunnel

I feel like I'm in the middle of a tunnel...so far in that I can't see behind me and it makes no sense to go back...but not close enough to the end of the tunnel to see the light at the end of it to continue to move forward.

That's how this dress is affecting me mentally.  It also doesn't help my confidence to read about pleating boards and pleating feet.  I wonder why didn't I think of these notions during all of my planning and my confidence is further shaken.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to make this dress...and I feel like I've totally bitten off more than I can chew.  Since I have a limited amount of time, I like to actually complete a garment during my weekends.  These creative weekends give me the fuel to face my regular workdays, a.k.a. my job, which gives me the opportunity to live a certain lifestyle but my weekends allow me to breathe.  Y'know what I mean?

This is the reason why I don't attempt these complicated and heavily involved projects often.  They eat at my soul, hog up my time, time I don't really have to spend on them, and I end up not enjoying the journey.   Believe me if I had unlimited time (i.e. retirement, long layoff, win the lottery, etc.) I could really experiment with my sewing artistry but trying to cram it into weekends, just frustrates me.  I know that I've shown glimpses of the levels that I could take my sewing to, but time truly constrains my ability to do so.  However, I do have a need to create so usually I try to work it into the time that I have...which is why my frustration is so great right now.

I don't know if this dress will work.  I don't know if I've made the right choices.  I just don't know.  So I'm going to wait until this evening and see how far I get...see if I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.  If I can, I will try to finish the dress.  If I can't, then I'm moving on to some other garments I have on my list. Hopefully at least one piece will emerge wearable from my sewing machine this weekend...

...I can always hope, right?

I'm in pleat h*ll

...or I've finally gotten around to working on "The Architectural Dress."

Do you remember this post..."A Few Things I want for Spring?"  In that post there was a picture of a Calvin Klein pleated front dress...and I got the bright idea that I wanted one for myself.  Being plus sized I knew Calvin wasn't making one in my size, so I would just have to help him out, right?! 

I carefully gathered up my materials, purchasing a linen that wasn't far from the original dress' color. 

Mentally, I've gone over how I would put the dress together...refining the steps as I thought about it again and again.  Many nights I fell asleep thinking about those pleats and this weekend since I have three days off, and knew it would be a process, decided the time was right to make this dress come to life.

Now I find myself in pleat hell...seriously, this is hard!  I know what I want to do and where I want to go but it is taking quite a bit of time to get there.  So here's where I am now...making pleats...hoping and praying that this is going to come together...

...more from the pleat factory, later...