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Goin' for Brocade in January

1/23/2012

 
For the January dress I took up a challenge over at The Sew Weekly that involved brocade.  For a little while, I was front page news.  Scoop!  

Read all about it here, or go to the source.

"Go for Brocade" Dress.  An Adaptation.

A personal goal of mine is to try (I mean really try) to dive into my fabric stash and use what I’ve got.  Years ago someone sent me a rather large brown metallic brocade 1960s dress.  At some point I cut the dress down to a skirt, which I then never wore.  That skirt was then packed away with my collection of fabric. My adaption of the “Go For Brocade” Dress finally put that dress/skirt/fabric to use.  As the original dress had a straight skirt on it, there was nowhere near enough fabric to do the whole project in brocade.  I opted to do the bodice in the brocade and add a solid colored skirt.
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Fabric:  Brocade (that used to be a too-big 1960′s dress) on top, Double Georgette for the skirt, and satin for the lining.

Pattern:  None.  I searched my collection of patterns (which I am also trying to put to good use) and couldn’t find a single one with princess seams on the bodice.  Not too surprising, though, as  I tend to have trouble fitting princess seams.  Rather than taking the time to draft something from scratch, I used the bodice of a dress I had recently taken apart (upcycle!) as a guide.  As expected, I had to make some modifications.  Surely I am not the only person whose chest has issues with this cut. Surely.

Year:  Bodice fabric – 1960′s/Style late 1950′s/”Pattern”- 1990′s

Notions:  Zipper and rust colored satin piping which was salvaged from the original dress.

Time to complete: About 10 hours (including picking apart the “original”) (oh and I was watching a movie while doing the hand stitching, so . . .).

First worn:  Today.  Just to snap some quick photos.

Wear again?  The next time I have a fancy event and the mood strikes me . . . yes.  Although, I can’t say I am completely sold on this dress.  Maybe it’s the color – too much brown? Maybe it’s the cut – is the skirt too full?  I’m on the fence with this one.

Total price: Double Georgette – $11.98/Satin – $9.98/Zipper – $1.26/Thread $2.65 for a grand total of $25.87.
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I am such a sucker for fitted bodices matched with full skirts, but I am coming to terms with the fact that it is just time for a more grown-up (and slimming) go-to style.  More wiggle dresses in 2012!  Alas. A wiggle dress would not have worked for this project.  So, if I were to tweak this dress and still keep the silhouette and style of “Go for Brocade” I would probably have made the neckline just a tad deeper.  I also would have done something more interesting with the back.  You can’t see it, but it’s just real high and real snoozy.  (But effectively guards against drafts and sunburns.)  I do like the vintage brocade very much.  I will have to keep my eyes peeled for vintage dresses for the purpose of re-purposing.  I mean, after I use all the fabric in my stash, of course.

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    About 

    Liz Cowin lives and loves Portland, OR.  She is a sucker for kittens, pretty dresses, black & white movies, and pain au chocolat.  Dress of the Month Club is creative outlet and experiment in selfish dressmaking (among other things).

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