The designs were all developed by me with some design
considerations given to me by Sarah.
The sheath dress was one that I had been wanting to create
for a long time and I had so much fun working on a master pattern that has
since morphed into so many designs! For instance, I took my base master sheath
dress pattern and modified it to create this metallic neutral.
I started with sketching some ideas for a dress and then
added a jacket and then thought that a skirt addition would make a mini capsule
perfect for work trips.
I modified the pattern by:
- Raising the front neckline
- Lowering the back neckline
- Adding extended shoulder for a sort of cut on cap sleeve
- Side fronts and side backs cut on the bias
- The front piece was split horizontally with a curved line to take advantage of the lines and nap of the silk dupioni
- Addition of a tab and small button to the back vent. The button matches the jacket buttons. Just a different scale.
- Addition of a welt zipper pocket in the right side front piece
The dress fabric is a lightweight metallic striped silk dupioni, underlined with silk organza and line with ambiance lining. I purchased the silk from Fabrications shop at the ASG national meeting when it was in Indianapolis a couple years ago.
The Jacket
With the dress completed, I moved onto the jacket. The
fabric for the jacket was a gift from my great friend, Wendy Grossman who blogs
over at The Couture Counsellor. I knew that I wanted the jacket front shape to echo the curve of the bodice on the dress front. But in a very delicate way. In my mock up i tried a couple different placements for the curved front and I had to be careful to place it in such a way that I did not accentuate my full tummy.
With the jacket front shape adjusted, the rest of the construction was fairly simple. Except that I had to match the basket weave as perfectly as possible! I also wanted to pull in the elements of the dress in a way that the set really went with each other and not just a jacket that looked good with the dress. So, in addition to the front waist curve, I also used the dress silk dupioni fabric to create pleated details on the jacket.
I added:
- pleated cuff treatment
- pleated pocket treatment
- pleated collar/neck treatment (my favorite part)
The main jacket pattern is made from my master princess seam jacket pattern and 3 piece sleeves with the under sleeve cut on the bias. I simply love using a 3 piece sleeve! It shapes and fits so nicely to my arms and it takes much less yardage overall when using a 3 -piece sleeve because the sleeve is in 3 pieces you can puzzle fit it into smaller areas.
For the lining used a silk remnant for the body portion, making sure to include a back pleat for ease and comfortable movement. The sleeves are lined with black ambiance lining.
The Skirt
With the leftover basket weave fabric and ambiance lining, I made a matching skirt. Thinking that this would be a perfect skirt suit. However, I dont often wear it that way because I don't like the way the front yoke of the skirt looks when paired up with the jacket. This is a bit nit picky on my part. Instead of using darts on the skirt I choose to add in a yoke and cut it on the bias. My thought for doing it this way was that then I would not have to match the basket weave vertically between the jacket and the skirt. All I succeeded in doing was breaking up the line so that the eye is drawn right to the yoke. Not where I want peoples eyes staring at!! LOL!! From the back it looks amazing because the back yoke is covered by the jacket.
The skirt pattern was developed from my basic a-line master skirt pattern. I transferred the darts into a yoke on the front and back.I also added in a 'secret' pocket on the inside facing. Works perfect for when I am working trade-shows and need to have a credit card/cash etc in a safe place.
A very good design learning opportunity for me. Luckily I have plenty of other tops and another jacket that goes very well with the skirt so it is not an orphan sitting in my closet! Plus I do also wear it as a skirt suit for work. It's not that bad....
Happy Sewing!!!
Here is the princess showing off 2 new shirts and dancing in her new PJ's!! She loves coming over and picking out fabric for me to sew her new clothes :)
