Back view - hem is created with many angles.
OK – I have to keep saying it in order to believe it, ‘get my mind around it’ that I’m blessed to be turning the big 60 this month…so since I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful dancing husband and a great dance hall and friends down the street that we love to go to on Friday nights (when I’m home anyway), I’ve decided the event demands a ‘youthful’ new dress.
I purchased this ‘ruffle fabric’ from Emma Seabrooke at the Martha Pullen show in Orlando in FL. Yesterday I played ‘designer’ and started draping it on my duct tape double. I guess I’m so hooked on taking photos of steps as I design and sew – that it was natural to snap some photos of the process. I had 2.5 yards of this black ruffle fabric – sprinkled with fuchsia glittery sparkles. It appears that I’ll have plenty of fabric – even enough left over for a top of some type. This popular ‘ruffle’ fabric is created with horizontal ruffles – which I feel is NOT flattering to most figures. Diagonals, however, ARE flattering – so I started out draping it over my right shoulder at an angle – then just started pinning, marking and cutting.
After 1 1/2 hours or so of the above, I feel I love what I came up with, and just need dear hubby to pin in a dart on my left side. I utilized clear Lastin 3/8” elastic pretty tightly around the uppermost edges. Since the fabric is a knit, I feel I’ll be able to simply pull this gown on – without any kind of zipper or closure.
My guess is once the right side dart is pinned in and some ruffle edges applied at the neckline and perhaps along some other edges, it will be DONE! This will wait til week after next when I get home from Atlanta Original Sewing & Quilt Expo…. Which, my sewing friend down the street, Tina Colombo was kind enough to help me with. Thanks, Tina!
Finishing this post after several weeks inbetween – precious, memory-filled weeks of the last of my Mom here on this earth, and adjusting to that loss. We buried her 2 days before my big birthday, so it was bittersweet. Nonetheless, I finished the dress – the day of my birthday. I added one of the ruffles – gathered, all around the neckline – and just wish I’d made the gathering fuller so that it would have stood up at the neckline better. See the closeup photo below. I’ll probably re-do that detail. Thank you Mom – for the gift of teaching me to express myself through sewing!
Me and my HANDSOME hubby
Starting to drape ruffle fabric at an angle.
Diagonal bodice draping of ruffle fabric.