Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Red Dress

So, I'm going to a wedding, and this dress has to be finished before we fly, I'm reasonably happy with how it is coming together so far but have a couple of questions.

I really fancied wearing a dress and I couldn't find anything I liked in the shops that I would be able to breastfeed in, so I decided I would make something myself and have constructed this around a nursing bra so that the clips are in place already.

The top is pleated, so I have sewed the pleats down (wider in the middle, narrow at the back to allow for the curve of my boobs (which are not inconsiderable at the moment). There are darts under the bra cups which almost give it some shape - I think it will hang a bit better once it is all sewn in place as the top is just pinned at the moment.

I'm thinking that I need to put some darts in under the arms as well, but worried that if I make it too tight under there I won't be able to unclip the cups.

The skirt is just a tube of fabric and I elasticated the top and sewed it straight to the bra. I might be better unpicking some of it and putting darts in there as well though as I look a bit still pregnant in it, any thoughts?

Photobucket Photobucket

and then there's the question of length. I liked the idea of a long dress, but I'm not sure I like how it hangs at the bottom. I have enough length to double the fabric up and sew what is currently the hem into the waist band (as in the short dress pic) making a kind of grown up version of the bubble dress... Or I could just chop in and hem it, might be neater.

This is the detail of the pleating on the top

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The top fabric is a Robert Kaufman Asian print and the red is a poly crepe from Spotlight (which incidentally I have to go back and pay for because they didn't charge me for it. It's probably cost me about $35 for the dress (when I pay for the fabric) plus the bra of course.

I'd love to hear your thoughts?

5 comments:

Ellie said...

I think I would try a bubble type skirt maybe tack it first to see if you like the look and if not try all different lengths.

Though if you make it short shoes will then be a huge feature of the outfit iykwim.

Rocal said...

Your so clever making your own pattern! I think I'm going to confuse matters and go the opposite way and say long, it is so rare we get to wear long dresses what time is the wedding? The fabric is stunning the way.

Selina said...

I really like the first picture!! I would make it shorter for sure. It looks great like that and would be awesome with some strappy shoes. Well done.

Ruth said...

i agree with you that a dart would make it hard to get the top down to feed. A thin elastic either just under each arm, or even all around to the back would help pull it in at the front but give it flexibility to fold down. It's hard to explain in blogger world lol! I'd go just below knee length.

red in oz said...

thank you so much for your imput ladies. I will hopefully post over the weekend with the finished article.

the elastic under the arms is a great idea, I know just what you mean.

still not sure on length, can't really afford new shoes so maybe I should stick with long... or at least longish.

again, thankyou.