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the conquest of jersey
Apr. 26th, 2011 06:19 pmWHAT: Vogue Pattern 2453, Donna Karan dress ca. mid 1990s
NEW(ish) STUFF: I haven't worked with knits in years, and never before with historic sewing techniques
PRO: interesting style and drape, tailored instead of tight, basic but not boring
CON: pattern/instruction SNAFU, fit not perfect.
The details:
( sparing you the photo spam )
The Elizabethan whipstitched edges worked fine on the knit, allowing me to salvage the project. Unusually I didn't need to serge the seams, because all of them are concealed.
The fabric was pleasant to work with and is dense/thick enough not to be revealing. A synthetic I actually like!
I made the armseye higher and tighter to avoid revealing gapping and I'm glad I did so. I think I got the fit mostly correct save a slight flare at the back neckline, but that may be more due to my poor posture than poor construction. In actual wear neither of these will detract as I usually wear a jacket over anything sleeveless.
Reminders for next time: Read ALL of the directions before starting assembly to see just how pear-shaped it's going to get :P If I ever make it again I might eliminate the bulky zipper problem by making it in a two-way stretch as a pullover, keeping in mind that the some of the draping effects may be lost and the end result might be too casual for work.
Speaking of work, I may pilot this sometime this week, if it cools down a bit (it may be sleeveless but it's still ~4 layers of synthetic). What shoes to wear with it, I wonder? I can only imagine boots working with the mid-calf asymmetrical hem but I'm open to experimentation.
NEW(ish) STUFF: I haven't worked with knits in years, and never before with historic sewing techniques
PRO: interesting style and drape, tailored instead of tight, basic but not boring
CON: pattern/instruction SNAFU, fit not perfect.
The details:
( sparing you the photo spam )
The Elizabethan whipstitched edges worked fine on the knit, allowing me to salvage the project. Unusually I didn't need to serge the seams, because all of them are concealed.
The fabric was pleasant to work with and is dense/thick enough not to be revealing. A synthetic I actually like!
I made the armseye higher and tighter to avoid revealing gapping and I'm glad I did so. I think I got the fit mostly correct save a slight flare at the back neckline, but that may be more due to my poor posture than poor construction. In actual wear neither of these will detract as I usually wear a jacket over anything sleeveless.
Reminders for next time: Read ALL of the directions before starting assembly to see just how pear-shaped it's going to get :P If I ever make it again I might eliminate the bulky zipper problem by making it in a two-way stretch as a pullover, keeping in mind that the some of the draping effects may be lost and the end result might be too casual for work.
Speaking of work, I may pilot this sometime this week, if it cools down a bit (it may be sleeveless but it's still ~4 layers of synthetic). What shoes to wear with it, I wonder? I can only imagine boots working with the mid-calf asymmetrical hem but I'm open to experimentation.
