anotheranon: (creativity)
anotheranon ([personal profile] anotheranon) wrote2011-04-13 11:06 pm
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defeating Donna Karan

I'm still plugging along on the 1990s Donna Karan pattern. It is deceptively labeled "easy/facile" which it might well have been had I been capable of turning off my mind and blindly following the directions.

As it is, I made a misstep somewhere, likely caused by a combination of my ignoring the directions in favor of what usually works and the difficulty of keeping track of where I was in a self-lined dress when the directions call for turning it inside out, right side out, over and over again.

I hit the final snag in one vaguely illustrated step that I think was meant to ensure that all seams are finished, but involved some strange pinning of back to front, right sides together, while including one side of the overlay and looping around to the lining.....that 3 times out of 3 resulted in a "mobius dress" that kept turning in on itself infinitely. Which is pretty cool but unfortunately unwearable.

So, I'm going to cheat.

The best way I can think of to finish outside and lining side seam while limiting the bulk of ~4 layers of jersey is to finish them using an ersatz Elizabethan seam (turn it under, baste it, whipstitch the finished edges together) leaving enough of the side open to put in the zipper. A lot of hand sewing but should emulate the look (if not the construction) of the pattern and still be wearable.

Wish me luck!

[identity profile] jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com 2011-04-14 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Bon chance!

You're smarter than the dress ... you WILL win!

[identity profile] danabren.livejournal.com 2011-04-14 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I worked for Butterick as a technical writer. It was a horrible experience, but that is a tale for another time.

I couldn't write instructions, but had to pull codes from a book, which had images included. I'd be handed a completed garment from the sewer on my team, and have to puzzle out how it'd been assembled, using only the codes. After that fun, my work would be vetted, and then vetted AGAIN to be translated into French.

There were several times when my work was changed/edited, or better yet, changed and changed again and then changed back, and I had no control over the written product that went out.

So I guess what I am trying to say is: WHO THE HELL KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE IT WENT TO PRINT ARRRGH!

[identity profile] anotheranon.livejournal.com 2011-04-15 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I admit this does kind of surprise me because in the past most of my weirder Vogue patterns (Miyake) have had fairly clear instructions. I imagined these were written outside of the required codes simply because they didn't have the standard front/back/sleeve/leg setups.

But I will keep your inside info in mind. Vogue and Butterick are now owned by the same co, after all.

[identity profile] belfebe.livejournal.com 2011-04-14 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
You go girl!

And please, pics when it's done? :-)