Rainbow dress

This is my entry for a wearable art category at the local show. I had so much fun making quilts last year that I thought it would be equally fun to make a crazy patchwork outfit.
Fabrics are hand dyed using various techniques (swirl dyed, low water immersion, dye bath). I cut the fabric into strips and sewed them together onto calico.

The pattern is Burda - a princess, A-line strapless dress. The ribbon is actually some stripped that I pinned together. It was windy and it was floating around. I think I want to sew a few of the left over together to make some type of scarf/drape as part of the entry.

I forgot to get a photo of the lining - it is hand dyed as well, a lovely shade of green.

Purple dress with applique

Okay, jumping the gun again because I still have 20cm or so of the lining to hand sew, but I don't care.

This dress started off as Burda WOF #107 from 12/04 - a princess-line, raglan sleeved evening gown that I thought would work for the creative piece that I had in mind As I sewed up the purple sateen (gorgeous fabric to work with BTW) I hit a snag. The dress looked terrible on me. It did not sit right and it was these wing things happening from the dart at the top of the sleeve (did not make how much I blended, and shaped and coaxed, the apex kept jutting off my arm and it looked terrible.

After having a big sulk about my wadder, and having a big whinge at DH who was just tryinng to enjoy the Easter weekend, I began to compare the pattern pieces with other Burda dresses that i have have traced. I discovered another dress was almost identical in the skirt, and I had enough fabric to recut another bodice.

This dress is going to be entered into a creative dressmaking category for the local show. It was a little ambitious seeing that I am not particularly arty or creative and I wasn't sure if dyeing was what they had in mind (exammples given include smocking and embroidery). I would have like to try reverse applique a la Alabama Chanin but that is better suited to stretch knits. I appliqued the flower with satin stitching.

Sewing ADD

I had a mini tracing/cutting frenzy on Sunday. I had been meaning to trace some hoodies for Scott but always found something else to do. Anyway, here are some of the results.

This one is Kwik Sew for Toddlers (the newer version). I thought the grey marle needed a little jazzing up, so appliqued his name on the front in the same fabric.
This is an Ottobre hoodie ( #9 from 4/09). Has my fave curved raglan sleeves and is reversible. The pattern is meant as a top but I have used Polar fleece on one side so it is more of a jumper.

This is KSFT again, the jacket option. I lined the body but did not have enough fabric to do the hood. I still have to add the snaps and sew the hems shut, but I felt like snapping a picture anyway.

Here is Jalisa's coat. So far I have finished sewing the outer shell. I have to buy the lining fabric before I can progress. It has come along beautifully, as most Otto patterns do.

This is an inner shot, to see the flannelette interlining. The pattern has you press the seams to the centre and topstitch, but I have pressed them open to reduce bulk and topstitched on both sides of the seam. Hard for me to capture but the seams are nicely highlighted with doing it this way.

This is Jalisa trying it on. Good thing her face is not clear - she has jam all around her mouth. The sleeves are a little long but some of the length will be taken up with turning the sleeves in with the lining.

Here is another work in progress. This is my wearable art dress for the show. I only have to understitch the top seam and hem it. All the fabric is hand dyed. I am not sure how I feel about the results. It was supposed to be random and crazy but I am still not sure I got it close to right. I will still enter it at any rate - a lot of hours went into this baby. When it is completely finished, I will do a modelling shot. This is my first strapless dress and I actually don't mind wearing it.