I had a dinner last night and so the opportunity to wear my new dress again and get a photo (for once) with my hair done and some (very light) make up.
This is the fabric... it has a that lovely double border and I wanted the more open, bold print on the sleeve side. I draped the fabric over me to see what would look the best. The more busy print is better camouflage for my tum. It was perfect for this style dress.
Due to the batwing taking up just that part of the bolder print, there is more of that left and I think I can make a skirt out of it. I'm not a great fan of synthetic fibres but this is a lovely polyester and Erin had told me she bought 5 or 6 metres of it and this was about 2 1/2 of that.
When I made this dress I did a few things I hadn't tried before. This dress has an invisible, invisible zip... the only other invisible zip I put in, wasn't very invisible. I used a plastic invisible zip foot that I bought for $4 and the first time I wasn't successful as I didn't use it properly, although I didn't realise this at the time and so I gave up and put it in with the ordinary zip foot but that didn't make it invisible. I thought it was because it was a cheap plastic foot. After putting the foot on properly I tried again and it worked. I know lots of people use invisible zips and I think the outfit looks better with one so now I'll try and use them more often. I also put some interfacing on the seam allowance as the fabric is very nice, fine quality polyester and I feared it would pucker, but it went in perfectly.
So if you don't want to buy an expensive invisible zip foot, try these cheap plastic ones as it really helps get the zip in properly. Although on this dress I slip it over my head so I could have done without the last minute stress of trying a new technique but it went in first go so I'm really pleased.
I made a rolled hem with black thread on the bat wing side 'sleeve' and hemmed it like that too. It was a just a little bit shorter than I'd like but I used all the length of the fabric. The fabric is black and a really light gold although it looks cream here. I lined the dress with power net as this is all I had. The inside where the sleeve is, has a normal armhole that I faced with a bias strip (so the lining is like a one armholed sheath dress). I'm really pleased with this as I have seen unlined dresses like this on people recently and I could see all the rolls of fat when this person moved their arms while walking and so I was very grateful for the lining pattern too. A friend bought a dress like this but short length in silk, by a well known Australian designer for $400 and it was unlined! I was really disappointed and unimpressed although they were happy to pay that! (and it was gorgeous, but knowing how easy it would be for a professional to make, I think it should at least be lined).
I am thrilled with this dress and it was a big hit at the dinner too. I'll try and make the silk version too as the friend who gifted it to me from Vietnam is going again in January and if I'd like some more I'd better show her it has been used!
I also had a photo of the Burda cowl neck dress I completed, but it looks so frumpy that I 'll try and get better photos of it to post.
Comments
I use Sunny Gal Studio's tutorial for installing invisible zips with a regular zipper foot and it works quite well for me, if you want to give it a whirl sometime.
http://sunnygalstudio.blogspot.com/2010/10/invisible-zipper-you-dont-scare-me.html
I adore my cheapo invisible zipper foot. I was skeptical about buying that plastic invisible zipper foot, but I get my best invisible zipper results when I use it. And it was cheap as chips!
Interesting how the cheap foot is just as effective as expensive ones.