Vogue 1397 - Tracy Reese dress on the bias

This recent project doesn't fall into any of the neat mental categories that my sewing usually does. It started life as an experiment, morphed into a possible wearable muslin and now is edging toward the "maybe I will wear it" category.

Interestingly I have almost no striped clothes in my wardrobe. The only items I have are a t-shirt and a dress made from the same piece of fabric. So why I decided to do a blog post for Craftsy on sewing with stripes is a bit of a mystery, perhaps deep down I wanted to make some striped things (I do have 3 different striped knit fabrics in the stash that I keep eyeing). This recent interest in stripes and then having just watched the Craftsy class Inside Vogue Patterns: Tracy Reese V1397 sent me zig-zagging down the bias stripe path. I do love bias stripes or garments where the designer has really thought about the placement of stripes to create an effect. And there are so many possibilities. As result I have a post today on the Craftsy blog about sewing bias with stripes so if you are interested in some how-to's check that out.

Now remember - this started out as an experiment so don't expect much. And if you scroll down you can see how it looks when worn.

Here is the pattern envelope. Which shows a dress.  Yep, another dress exactly what I don't need. I was mostly interested in playing around with the chevron effect so I changed it to a skirt which actually worked beautifully. It is meant to be fitted at the waist so I just added a waistband, the fit was very good using a size 12. 

Once I had the skirt finished I had all kinds of fabric leftover, and was starting to think more kindly about it. Might even wear it. But with what? I rummaged through all kinds of blue chambray cotton, then some pink or red, possibly a blouse, or knit top? But nothing matched the color and I happened to see this idea of a two-piece outfit with a waist length top and decided to try it. I actually made the top in horizontal stripes thinking it would be an interesting contrast but it was hideous. Number two is the version you see here. I used my favorite sheath dress pattern (New Look 6643), added a center front seam and angled away! 

The skirt pattern matching gave me quite a thrill - it came out so well. The top is a happy accident, in the sense that the seamed stripes match fine, that I knew as I cut it out. But it is the placement of the blue stripes that I really did not think about when I cut it out, yet it did land nicely with the stripes continuing the spacing from the top to bottom. Sometimes you just get lucky! 

The back view. I made a slight mistake on the center back of the top, neglecting to account for where the overlap would hit when the buttons were done so the pattern was off. In the end I made a change to one side, which brought the edge to the actual center, allowed the chevrons to match again, and put snaps there so there  are no buttons or zipper at all.  

And a look at the back on me. Not on my skinny long-torso-ed dress form. So the top is a bit longer. The skirt hem is left raw which is very liberating! That is what is specified in the pattern, although I was thinking, hmm, that is weird and I am not gonna do it. But I did, and it looks good (won't ravel, on the bias).

Two seersucker items in a row - how about that? Must be summer... OK, now I will tell you the scoop on this fabric and you can let me know if it is crazy, weird, or fun. I bought it at this home-dec fabric shop because I needed around 5 yards to experiment with and I didn't feel like breaking the bank on a maybe project. But $ 3.00/yard seemed about right. And it is a cotton, kind of a medium weight. would also work for a jacket. Not really my color, but it is growing on me. You can see the color better in this picture. 

I am only showing you the last dorky photo so you can see the panels and the chevron effect :) Also there are pockets in the front seams (instead of the side seams) which is kind of nice. I was going to leave them off but in the scheme of things doing the pockets took no time at all so I talked my lazy self into doing them. Bonus sneek peek in this photo of a work in progress, a new to me indy pattern company, any guesses?

No, I am not taking up square dancing in my back yard. Although have you ever been to a square dance? I did go to one in college which actually was a blast. (theme parties were very big - there is not time to list the number of theme events I went to but there was a lot of speed sewing. Toga party, anyone? although that takes the least sewing, yay!) 

Before I forget, after this was all finished I saw this dress from the recent couture collections. Ok I am not a Parisian model but diagonal stripes are a thing. This one is fantastic. Perhaps I need a petticoat.

Giambattista Valli Fall 2014 Couture Collection

So I am done with stripes for the time being...I think. I do have some stripe-adjacent fabrics in the queue which should if things go as planned will be sewn up soon. 

Up next, something simple. After all it's summer, time to take it easy or so the thermometer has been telling me.

So this one - wearable or not? let me know. 

Happy sewing, Beth