Chanel Inspired: Black and White Gingham Peter Pan Collar Easter Dress

1. I am taking an online fashion design course.

2. I wanted to make my Easter dress.

3. Black and white gingham is in right now.

4. I have always loved this Chanel dress since it came out in 2012 (I think it was 2012. Whenever I started blogging...)

Skipping ahead about three days of work.  I had two different gingham fabrics so I decided to color block them.

I didn't feel like buying fusible interfacing, so I just interfaced the collar with another piece of the same white fabric. I knew this choice would cause the collar to lose it's shape (especially after washing), so I under-stitched the seam.

One thing about Peter Pan collars is that they like to pull the back side of the neckline forward. To keep this from happening, I stitched a black rectangle right under the collar attaching the interfacing to the front.

Getting the waistband to attach on the diagonal was tricky because woven fabric stretches on the bias. To alleviate this problem, I interfaced it with another piece of gingham that was cut on the cross grain. (You can see this in a picture later.)

The bottom hem. I wanted it to be diagonal too, but I didn't have enough fabric to cut a big enough piece on the diagonal. At least the size of the gingham is different.

I wanted to do that thing where you dart the elbows to allow for the bend in the arm. You see this sort of thing in high-end clothing.

My first time in a long time that I've sewn in an invisible zipper. I realized that I don't even own a zipper foot. I actually used an overcasting foot and it worked pretty well.

See how the pattern matches up? Well, the horizontal lines do anyway.

I interfaced the bodice with white fabric because I knew the skirt would be gathered and the fabric is kind of flimsy, so I didn't want the skirt to pull the top out of shape. In retrospect, I should have interfaced the skirt too, but I will just wear a slip under it. 

(*NOTE* Don't be gross, Ladies! Wear a slip!)

Oh, also about the picture above. From the inside you can see how the interfacing to the waistband is cut on the cross grain (straight vs. diagonal). This helped the front bias-cut piece maintain its shape.

I sewed in at the shoulders and decided not to cut off the portion of the seam that was thickest. This actually acts as a slight shoulder pad when turned right side out.

The End!