Monday, March 17, 2014

The Brasilia Dress, completed

So yesterday I popped over to my friend Alice's house for some late afternoon dress photography and the first thing she said when I walked in the door was the following "That dress is really cute, turquoise is your color, I'd like one in that style,  the details don't show up until you are close up, what is that fabric?"  She manages to get in a lot of communication in rapid bursts plus she is almost always very enthusiastic about my creations. That makes her a great friend and perfect partner in my feeble attempts at photography. My attempts are feeble, hers are not.
So here is the finished dress, a very simple style that as mentioned has more detail than is apparent at first glance.  My previous post was all about the fitting on this free pattern which was designed by Rachel who writes the blog House of Pinheiro. Check that previous post for the diagram so you can see the seam shaping.

Brasilia dress finished 1

A few notes on this dress. I made a few changes for fit which are detailed in that previous post. This was sort of a test version and the fabric has no stretch whatsoever. The pattern is designed for a stretch woven, like a cotton sateen or denim with 2% lycra. With a fabric like that you can make it much more of a fitted dress and still be able to zip it, sit down etc.  So this version is not very fitted in the waist, more of a shift dress but perfect for summer. 

A closer look at the fabric. No idea of the fiber content, but probably some cotton. It has the weight of a denim and crinkles like gauze but is not that light. Plus there are the little white flecks. I bought it a while ago, at my secret thrift store where I bought a lot of other fantastic blue fabrics

Brasilia close up front

One other change I made in addition to narrowing the center front was to bring in the outside edge of the armhole at the shoulder, probably about 1/2 inch. I like a cut in shoulder in a sleeveless dress. The dress has triangular insets at the waist to create shaping in place of darts or princess seams and I kept toying with the idea of doing those in a different color but I am really glad I did not. But for a future version that is a possibility. 
I think the pattern suggests lining the whole dress but I just made some facings from the pattern pieces and had some quilting cotton that was a perfect color match so I went old school with sewn in facings, even using the pinking shears on the edge. Nothing wrong with pinking shears, after all this dress is kind of a 60's style so it goes along with that. Also I think serged edges can be a bit lumpy under certain fabrics so I avoid them most of the time. 

Facing

I didn't have a turquoise zipper in my zipper box - despite myriad other colors - so I used white which seems to blend fine.  Looking at the dress here on my form I can pinpoint one other alteration I would make if I sew it again, it is just a tiny bit big at the center back.

Brasilia back zip close up

I had to laugh when I was pulling a spool of thread from the rack, this is a small selection of the turquoise thread I have  - no doubt this is my favorite color. 

turquoise threads

While waiting on hold during a phone call today I jotted down all the items I want to sew in the next two months and it was 9 items including two dresses, a jacket, a skirt, several tops and shorts. Whew! Not to mention that I still want to recreate my swimsuit stolen by the racoon ( a story I will get to one of these days).  Hey,  I had better get busy. We are heading into my favorite time of year, summer ! Although you can see from the first picture that we have absolutely nothing to complain about here in Northern California. No polar vortex (and probably water rationing in a few months) but for now its time to get out my summer tees and sandals. 

Here is the proof. The daffodils are almost done and the tulips are going crazy. I am even thinking about tomatoes already.  
I hope the seasons are behaving wherever you are, Happy Sewing,  Beth


two red tulips

23 comments:

  1. Lovely dress - great fit and colour!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, perfect vision of spring. The dress looks so beautiful on you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your dress is beautiful and I love the colour!
    Pretty flowers too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. this looks lovely and the raccoon story is a must read :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Swimsuit stolen by a raccoon?!?! Interesting! This dress is so beautiful and really looks nice on you! This is one of my favorite colors, too. It's so happy and easy to wear!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a lovely dress and what a great fabric find. That fabric certainly deserves its closeup with its subtle design.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's a great dress! You do look ready for summer :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely dress and perfect colour for summer. Looking forward to seeing your makes in the next couple of months...your list sounds a little like mine :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely dress Beth. I really like the shaping

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your handiwork is impeccable -- even through the distance of seeing a picture on a blog, it really stands out head and shoulders above the average home sewer. I guess that's your professional ability showing through! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. One of my all time favorite colors! You got a great fit (as always)!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful dress and love the colour on you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm like you, Beth- lots of turquoise spools too!! What a fabulous dress- you look so chic in it and are the perfect Brasilia model ! I love how the fabric Grainline shows the lines in the dress too. As always a wonderful make.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bellissimo Beth! It's the perfect fabric for that dress. I really love those darts. Maybe if you have some blue nail polish around you could paint the zip tab ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I can see why this is your favorite color! Lovely dress and I adore interesting construction lines in a garment.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Definitely this colour is perfect for you ~ love the dress and thanks for sharing the details ... J

    ReplyDelete
  17. That *is* your color! Beautiful dress.

    How do you wash items with pinked edges? Handwash or machine? Super-duper-gentle soak and spin? I remember a blouse from high school Home Ec with pinked edges that frayed and became unwearable after 2 washes... Still a painful memory after all these years, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fantastic dress, I love the style lines, the fabric and also love the color very much! The pattern is a winner!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Turquoise (I´m not at all sure how to pronounce that colour in English) is a favorite of mine, but only with your permission because it was made for you!! ç
    Love how this turned out! All your alterations were worthy and the texture of the fabric is really pretty!
    The tulips are looking great!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. You do such amazing work. This is so spring time and beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This sure is "your" colour and it looks amazing on you :) The seaming looks really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  22. It's an absolutely gorgeous dress and the color is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  23. All that fitting work you did resulted in a great looking dress. It is a wonderfully flattering style and color.

    ReplyDelete