The Trifecta
Ladies and Gents,
I present to you the Trifecta dress (also known as V-neck dress #5, from Drape Drape):
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Ta Da! This is me pretending I'm wearing fancy shoes for my fancy dress, ha.
So I named this dress The Trifecta because I had to learn 3 new techniques. Well... I had to learn two new techniques and one new fabric, but whatever you get the point.
1st: Chiffon. What the what? Why would I attempt to make a glorified muslin in chiffon? Not only is this poly chiffon in a color skew I would generally never wear but I'm also not typically masochistic. However, it was a panel print (which I found enticing) and only $1.50 a panel. So, I figured what the hey. It costs less than a bus ride. How can I say no to that?
2nd: Linings. This dress is lined. That didn't turn out to be too bad as the lining was part of the pattern and the instructions were easy enough to follow.
3rd: Underlining. Even with a lining the two pieces of fabric were so light it just wasn't appropriate. So there you had it. After spending $1.50 on the face fabric ($3 total for two panels) I had to use two layers of the lining fabric one of which was painstakingly hand-sewn to the face fabric as underlining on the waist, bust and back (woof). However for as much time as it took to hand stitch all the face pieces to the underlining I really think the underlining helped the chiffon from going all rogue when I took them to the machine. Bonus!
Other points of interest include a nifty favor to myself which I included in the bust. Believe it or not, I added a FOURTH layer at the bust. Not just any layer though, I added pockets that can hold bathing suit cups, so I don't have to wear a bra if I don't want to! Regardless of how cold it is! Additionally I raised the back so that if I do want to wear a bra I can. Boom. That's women's rights, right there my friends.
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OK, and now onto the cons First of all this dress was drafted too close in the back with an invisible zipper. I personally liked the idea, but because I had this ethereal layer floating about like it has nothing better to do, the idea of adding an invisible zipper was giving me daymares of chiffon-eating-zipper-monsters. So I opted for three buttons instead. Unfortunately I thought I would be doing myself another favor by making the little loops out of elastic, so it would be easier to get the buttons, buttoned. Sadly as it turns out, the elastic that I chose is not strong enough, so the back hangs open slightly. Not cute.
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Anyways, when I stop being lazy I'll replace the elastic with something more sturdy like ribbon or something and it will look more like this (gotta love safety pins):
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My second major short-coming was the hem... I totally chickened out of machine (or hand) stitching it and threw some clear nail polish on that baby to just keep it from fraying. I fancy myself a somewhat brave person, but after all the work I had just put into this dress (which I will likely hardly ever wear), I just couldn't bring myself to try to hem that dang chiffon. It's so scary!! Don't judge me!
Anyways, that's the update on my latest make. I'm counting this done for February (even though I need to substitute the button loops and get the courage to hem that sucker). Next up will be a nice and easy (hopefully) TNT. See you soon!
I present to you the Trifecta dress (also known as V-neck dress #5, from Drape Drape):
So I named this dress The Trifecta because I had to learn 3 new techniques. Well... I had to learn two new techniques and one new fabric, but whatever you get the point.
1st: Chiffon. What the what? Why would I attempt to make a glorified muslin in chiffon? Not only is this poly chiffon in a color skew I would generally never wear but I'm also not typically masochistic. However, it was a panel print (which I found enticing) and only $1.50 a panel. So, I figured what the hey. It costs less than a bus ride. How can I say no to that?
2nd: Linings. This dress is lined. That didn't turn out to be too bad as the lining was part of the pattern and the instructions were easy enough to follow.
3rd: Underlining. Even with a lining the two pieces of fabric were so light it just wasn't appropriate. So there you had it. After spending $1.50 on the face fabric ($3 total for two panels) I had to use two layers of the lining fabric one of which was painstakingly hand-sewn to the face fabric as underlining on the waist, bust and back (woof). However for as much time as it took to hand stitch all the face pieces to the underlining I really think the underlining helped the chiffon from going all rogue when I took them to the machine. Bonus!
Other points of interest include a nifty favor to myself which I included in the bust. Believe it or not, I added a FOURTH layer at the bust. Not just any layer though, I added pockets that can hold bathing suit cups, so I don't have to wear a bra if I don't want to! Regardless of how cold it is! Additionally I raised the back so that if I do want to wear a bra I can. Boom. That's women's rights, right there my friends.
OK, and now onto the cons First of all this dress was drafted too close in the back with an invisible zipper. I personally liked the idea, but because I had this ethereal layer floating about like it has nothing better to do, the idea of adding an invisible zipper was giving me daymares of chiffon-eating-zipper-monsters. So I opted for three buttons instead. Unfortunately I thought I would be doing myself another favor by making the little loops out of elastic, so it would be easier to get the buttons, buttoned. Sadly as it turns out, the elastic that I chose is not strong enough, so the back hangs open slightly. Not cute.
Anyways, when I stop being lazy I'll replace the elastic with something more sturdy like ribbon or something and it will look more like this (gotta love safety pins):
My second major short-coming was the hem... I totally chickened out of machine (or hand) stitching it and threw some clear nail polish on that baby to just keep it from fraying. I fancy myself a somewhat brave person, but after all the work I had just put into this dress (which I will likely hardly ever wear), I just couldn't bring myself to try to hem that dang chiffon. It's so scary!! Don't judge me!
Anyways, that's the update on my latest make. I'm counting this done for February (even though I need to substitute the button loops and get the courage to hem that sucker). Next up will be a nice and easy (hopefully) TNT. See you soon!
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