Here is the first dress that inspired me (The one in the middle that Lady Mary is wearing). I really like how the costume designers dress her in Coco Chanel stripes. It really helps allude to the fact that young women in this era were spurning the over-blown Victorian gaudiness and confines of the corset and going for a simpler, classier look. The shocking rebellion started by Coco, of course...
I don't have quite that same striped pattern, but I have a couple others. The first one I used is this sort of grey and white:
That's why I called it the Lady Mary/Anna Dress, because it is Lady Mary's style, but the color and only three buttons seems a bit more Anna's fare. The collar is also higher and very conservative, which also seems a bit Anna than Mary. Obviously, it is must shorter than Mary's--just above the knee, compared with the Victorian ankle length--but I think it looks cuter, shorter. I also dropped the waistline a bit because my natural waist is high enough. Notice also the low hip profile.
I used the same basic pattern as for The Sound of Music Curtain Dress, which was just my modification of Burdastyle.com's Coffee Date Dress. I further modified it by squaring off the neckline and cutting the bodice into two panels so one could have stripes vertical, and one horizontal. Then, I elongated the pattern of sleeve that I'd been using from the "Chanel Inspired" dresses.
From the back.
I don't have the same lace in white that Mary's dress requires for the collar, so I just cut a doily in half.
Mary's sleeves aren't puffed, but I did it just for fun.
Again with the very short side zipper. (It bothers me that the bodice lines don't match up with the skirt, but...they couldn't once I put in darts on the bodice because darting automatically makes stripes a little diagonal.)
Escape hatch!
The other half of the doily, I finagled to piece in the front as a collar.
If you look closely, you can see that to keep the facing down, I sewed the top white stripe with white thread. You can't really see it, and that's the point.
These are the back skirt pleats. I didn't dart the skirt. Yes, it's lazy, but also with the side zipper being so short, I didn't want to develop claustrophobia getting into this dress, so I left them as pleats.
You can see the front pleats better from the side. It's kind of a weird profile having the pleats undarted, I know, but it looks better on a person. I just didn't have time to take a picture of me in it.
Maybe one day.
I hemmed it by hand. Can you see my stitches? Nope. They are truly blind stitches, thanks to the white stripes!
The back side of the hem shows how I stitched it.
I debated over sewing a stripe of black onto the dress itself the way the original is, but then just opted for a patent leather belt. The silver buckle helps modernize the look.
The side.
The end!
No comments:
Post a Comment