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!

The Sell-Out #1: Butterick 5890 - The Alice in Wonderland Smock Bubble Dress

I am no fan of store-bought patterns. I haven't used them in over a decade. I like to make my own. However, the other day I was at a thrift store and came across several boxes of vintage patterns. As they were $.30 apiece, I thought playing with them might be fun. Most of them were of hideous 90s dresses, but a few were kind of interesting. This was one of them. I was particularly interested in the pointed yoke and the pleated front. Also, I wanted to see how they'd patterned the pockets. 

Since, I used a pre-made pattern for this one, I called it a "sell-out." However, you know I can't follow directions, right? In fact, I looked over the directions and followed about half of them. That is the exact reason I hate store-bought patterns. They take you through all these unnecessary and confusing steps when all you have to do is think of the next logical step. For instance, they wanted me to add a zipper. Why in the world would I need to add a zipper to a dress that I'm practically swimming in?

I'm not really a good body type for this kind of dress as I don't really have shoulders, so I decided to add sleeves. This is what happened. Ick:

It looks like a feed-sack--exactly the look I was NOT going for. This was also the smallest size available on the pattern. After making it, I realized the pattern packet read, "Maternity" on the front. Oops. No wonder.

So, then I remembered I had a really comfortable, cute H&M smock dress hanging in my closet. I got it out and studied it.

My fixes were to take in the sides about two inches, peg the sleeves so they didn't stick out like a weird Sci-Fi costume, and hem the dress to just above the knee.

The brown and blue diamond fabric is left over curtain material from my sister's house. The blue skirt material is, I think, from hospital sheets.

Details, details:

Oh, so proud of the symmetry. Notice it around the neckline, the point, the shoulders, even the sleeves, please.

This small peg makes a big difference.

Fearful symmetry. (That is where the unnecessary zipper was supposed to go. Maybe next time, I will just put the fabric on the fold and skip this seam entirely.)

Deep side pockets. Mmmm comfort!

The End!...Just kidding, it's not.

So after posting this, I was trying the dress on, and you know what? I didn't love it. It wasn't different enough for me. I dunno, it was too poofy or something around the bottom. So I tapered the bottom hem in a little bit on both sides at an angle. Here I pulled the sides way out to exaggerate what I did. (The dress won't hang this way.)

I just think the tapering on the bottom helps to balance the architecture on the top.

Yeah, this is way more "me". . .More Asian-y looking.

The REAL End!