Dressed in a Dress - The Sewing Journal

Every dress starts with an idea. You might see the perfect one in a magazine or you might get lightened with inspiration in a fabric store when you see that silk organza with velvet dots. But one cannot sew a dress without a pattern, right? It is not that complicated, as it seams. And I'm here to help. So why not learn to make one?

A magical commercial inspired me to draw a couple of illustrations. Once I watched it, I couldn’t resist wanting that blue blouse with a bow. I cannot afford to buy one, but I can at least dress my pencil-drawn alter ego in it.

I bought the pansies-strewn fabric impulsively without a clear idea, just because I liked it. It puzzled me because I hadn't worked with lace before. But I knew I would deal with questions with time – I would flip through book pages or search on the Internet. The truth is that the articles I found were not so informative. Therefore, here I write my notes and reflections.

When the praparation with all the materials, a place and a right pose for my future dress form was done, we were ready to get to the point. Finally, we started making a plaster mold. We did the best we could, but still the story happened to have an unexpected twist.

One year and five months I’ve spent deciding which tailor’s dummy to buy. The discrepancy between the desired and affordable option drove me into a week of melancholy. In late February, I finally determined that both options I had wouldn’t work. But I have a new idea: if the dummy that looks like me is not sold in stores, I’ll make it myself.

Curious faces peer over my shoulder and ask what I am sewing: a silk robe or a negligee. I hear this question for the hundredth time. So I breathe out quietly in a meditative manner and with a mysterious smile, I answer that I’m sewing neither one nor the other. After all, I know that in a dozen stitches I will finish the bohemian kimono, which I have wanted for many years.

In the previous post I wrote about the difference between interfacing and interlining. There I described the fabrics and techniques I used to give this coat shape and support. And now my hands are burning, because it's time to draw a pattern for the inner structure, the Interfacing Packet.

As soon as snow covers the streets, I start to feel an uncontrollable desire to warm myself with at least one new sweater. And every time, as soon as it becomes cold and dark, I start ordering yarn. This year, the yarn did not help. A spontaneous trip to a fabric store for just to have a look ended up with me happily wrapped in a new shaggy piece of eco fur. After a month and a half, it will turn into a fur coat, which will make passers-by turn around.

This is the final and the shortest part of my yet longest trilogy. If you’ve just joined, feel free to start with Part 1, which tells about inspiration and preparatory process, and Part 2 – there you can read about patterns and samples. And here I write some cutting tips down and ponder about sewing. And as I promised, there is the final summary of this long story, which I sincerely hope you read.

Creating a garment is a long way and I hope this trilogy of posts can guide you. So, if you’ve just joined the reading, please, visit the first part page. It tells about inspiration, ideas, ways of getting a pattern and measurements. In this post I'm writing about patternmaking and samples. Please, enjoy.

For the first half of my sewing life, I was using ready-made patterns. Unexpectedly, the choice that the magazines provided was not enough. This was the beginning of a new era. At that moment, I was left alone with my knowledge, skills and a million doubts. There was nothing that could help. And after a while and dozens of dresses and skirts, there appeared a scheme, which I wish I had at the beginning of my work.

Here I write about the difficulties of creative search, ponder about creative process and show a week's tailoring, which dragged on for a couple of months and ended with me pacing the Paris pavement and smiling happily to the sunset.

“Stripes are always in fashion, but now especially aggressive ones. Horizontal and vertical at the same time, wide and narrow in super-bright colours. Wrote the Vogue magazine on top of the vivid photos from the shows of Fendi, Miu Miu, Proenza Schouler in an article about the fashion trends of the upcoming 2017 year.”