spottedroo

Do I look tired in this picture?  Maybe its because the past month has been crazy.  I took four different trips (3 for work, one for family), gave 2 talks, a lab meeting, and a poster, and squeezed in a little time to finish this dress.

I knew when I ordered this fabric that I wanted to make it into a wrap dress.  My first thought was V8379, but once the fabric arrived— somewhat sweater-y and soft— I thought it would never hold up with that full a skirt.  I checked with Faye, who had just made the Vogue dress, and she agreed.  So I went for the faux wrap , M6163 instead.

Since I am paranoid about knit dresses stretching out under their own weight, I did my best to reinforce the top.  For the long edges of the wrap I followed Cennetta’s lead and serged elastic onto the edge of the seam allowance.  I then rolled it under twice and topstitched it down so the elastic was completely hidden and the wrap had no chance of drooping.  I also interfaced the neckline and all of the raglan seams.

I spent a long time puzzling over the pattern pieces, gathering them and comparing them to my sloper to try to decide if and how I should alter the wrap.  I finally decided it was beyond me and cut the bodice as-is according to my measurements.  I ended up having to take it in quite a bit at the front, sides, and neckline to get a good fit.  I guess I should have made a muslin but I didn’t have a knit with similar stretch and weight that I was willing to sacrifice.  How do you guys fit knitted garments?

As with all printed fabrics, I also spent a long time laying out the pattern.  I wanted it to slope in by the same amount on both sides of the wrap and I think I pulled that off.  Despite my care, though, the hemline doesn’t line up with the pattern.  I hope it’s not too noticeable.  Here’s a slightly crummy full length shot so you can see the fit:

Once it was done my big worry was that it was too dressy. The fitted sides and skirt feel very formal to me.  But I wore it with a cardigan for a weekend day and that felt ok.  And I wore it for the first night’s seder this past weekend.  The second night we had to sit out due to a nasty stomach bug.  Then on Sunday night we had a dress code:

Yes, that’s four generations of David’s family.  At 10pm with a toddler who is only holding it together due to a hearty group rendition of “Six little ducks.”  Did I mention I was tired?