Design #2

Making just one dress is not enough work for a semester-long class!  Consequently, we had to turn in our first set of sketches for Design #2 this week.  Alas, the assignment was given on Thursday and I spent the weekend out of town at my nephew's birthday party. (My time was well-spent: I embroidered initials to help turn 50-cent washcloths into $6 Spidey-scrubbers. Even with just one large initial per cloth and an embroidery machine, getting forty washcloths into and out of an embroidery hoop took some time.) 

I completely forgot to work on the assignment on Monday, so I only have the sketches that I did in class on Tuesday while waiting for help to fit my muslin.

For this assignment, we were to take a vintage pattern and update it.  Here is my assigned inspiration pattern:


The keys points are the flange on the blouse, and the double darts in the skirt.  Here are the designs I turned out:




As you can see, anything with the bow looks rather dated, but a scarf at the neck works well.  (Oops!  Just realized I forgot to color one of the sleeves on dress 1.) I like the second and fourth designs the best.  The rest of this assignment is to make ten more sketches (variations on our best two or three designs from the original twenty) and then make these in half-size.  If the girls had a doll that size, I think I'd do it, but half-size is too big for a doll and too small for a little girl, so I may pass on this assignment!  

We also learned how to make the patterns for the facings and linings for our dresses in class this week.  So I'm actually not making more work for myself by deciding this should be a fully-lined dress. :)  The facing and lining pattern is just a copy of the dress pattern, with the facing being at least two inches wide on any open edge (neck, armholes of sleeveless dresses, button fronts, etc.).  In the back of the neck, however, the facing is made much deeper so that the finished garment has "hanger appeal" and doesn't show the lining.  After drawing in the shape of the facing, the pattern is cut apart, and then seam allowances are added to each piece.  Notice that the labeling for the facing pattern is on the opposite side of the paper from the pattern from which it's cut.  

Another interesting tip was not to stitch to the very end of the dart in the lining.

We used our very spiky "stiletto wheel" (that's a tracing wheel on steroids) to transfer the pattern to another piece of paper underneath.  



We also worked on button placement.  The extension for a buttoned garment should be equal to the radius of the button plus 1/4".  The top button is placed 1/4" plus the radius of the button below the neck edge, and another button is placed on the bust line.  The remaining buttons are spaced evenly between those two and the waistline.  

The buttonhole width is the diameter of the button plus the thickness of the button.  The edge of the buttonhole is placed 1/8" to the right of the center line.  

I actually have all of the pattern pieces made for my dress now.  This weekend I need to cut it out in muslin and baste it together.  I just have to remember to add the correct seam allowances to all those pattern pieces!  I'm going to cheat a little, too, and not make the facing and lining patterns until after I've fitted the muslin.  I hope we're not supposed to have the lining stitched in for our fitting!