KnipMode December 2017, Dress 6: Shiny and Summery (also not pink)

(Brief aside for Blogspot friends & readers: Please don’t ask me why, I am not a computer person–all appearances to the contrary–but blogger is going through another phase where I can’t use my wordpress ID to comment on posts. When I try, it tells me that it “couldn’t connect to my blogspot ID”–which of course, because I don’t have one, I have wordpress ID and that’s what I put in–but in any case, it won’t let me post. I do read, though.)

The fabric was an impulse purchase bought on sale for no reason other than it is very shiny. It’s a lightweight polyester jersey, with a colourful print and, on top of the print, a metallic gold foil fireworks print. It catches the light in interesting ways and seemed like a fun thing to turn into a dress.

Specifically this dress, which was a good part of the reason I bought this KnipMode issue.

There’s lots of good things going on here. The gathers on the bodice provide ways to add or remove bust measurement without fussing with darts, the separate waistband pieces make it easy to get a good fit and provide support for the skirt, and the angled gore gives the skirt some good swish and movement without a lot of weight.

I chose the size reflected by measurements, did an FBA using the gathers to fold in excess, and this was the first fitting:

Not bad, eh?

Not perfect. A bit looser than I wanted in the waist, and a bit lower-cut in the front than is really wise, but overall a good first fit. I took in about 1/2″ on the shoulder seam, tapering to nothing at the sleeve, and took the dress in through the waist as well. The neck is finished with a neckband, borrowing the shape and method largely from the v-neck Sewaholic Renfrew. And here it is finished up:

I like it a lot. The winter was so freaking cold that I only had reason and weather to wear it once or twice, but that included a birthday dinner with a friend and dancing, so that’s all right. Since, we’ve had our normal will-winter-ever-end/oh-it’s-a-heat-wave tango here so I’m not sure I’ll be wearing it again before November.

And then I went and made a summer version:

This was from a 1.5m cut of Art Gallery cotton jersey. I didn’t have quite enough for sleeves, but the actual dress pieces fit on the cut no problem. And it was already altered so made up in a snap.

With a blazer it’s great for work, and very comfortable. Much more versatile than the shiny verison.

Sizing Note

This is a size 38, graded to 40 at the hips, with an FBA. Size chosen based on body measurements and was basically fine, though I chose to take it in a bit at the waist, and had to shorten the armscyes and neckline by about 1″. The FBA in the pleats worked well, though word to the wise: add the bulk of the excess to the centre pleat. Mine is a bit too much in the bottom pleat and that is, needless to say, not where I need it.