SPRING DRESS PROTOTYPE
Reflection
------------------------------------------------------------
It has been a small ambition of mine to design my own
easy-to-sew, all-day-comfortable dress patterns. For the
last eight months I have fawned over Plain Dress clothing
ideas and styles, hoping to understand my own associations
with plainness, and realize my vision for simple-to-make and
enduring-to-wear clothing. I succeeded early on with an
apron and skirt design, but frightened away from a
dress. Finally I mustered the courage to make a dress, which
occupied me thoughtfully throughout the past week's
downtime.
I was inspired by Simplicity pattern 9122, as well as two
dresses I have in my closet—a scrappy white lace dress with
tiered piecing, a drapey black dress with princess lines—and
a colourful a-line dress with large bow I saw once at
church. All together, I aimed for a dress that had clean
lines, subtle feminine accents, and a bit of fun to it.
My choice of fabric was fairly limited. The main navy blue
fabric is a heavy cotton weave that I picked up for this
kind of pattern prototyping work. The accent pink fabric
heavy cotton weave is part of a collection of quilting
fabrics inherited from a neighbor. It was the only fabric I
had with accent and weight that matched the main
fabric. There wasn't much choice between fabrics, which was
fine and acceptable given the fact this would be a
prototype. It was a little challenging to achieve harmony
between the dark navy and intense pink. In the end, what
worked was to really thin out the pink. I must say, I felt a
bit shy about having such a bold color in my dress. I've
fancied desaturated colours for the two seasons. Happily,
the pink has perked me up and let a bit of my interior
vibrations shine out.
The bodice uses grown-on sleeves. I have not tried this
technique before. To my delight, they were much easier to
generate than sleeve caps. I could trace and sew the entire
bodice approximately into scrap fabric for a quick try-on
fit, then adjust to my liking. I would have preferred to use
set-in sleeves but the generation of this initial pattern
eluded me. (I intend to prototype a bodice with set-in
sleeves in the near future).
The sleeves have a narrow bias strip attached, my first time
doing this to a garment. It was mostly easy, and I enjoyed
the uneven slip stitch used to attach the bias strip to the
inside of the sleeve. The neckline is just overlocked and
folded over. I had tried it with facing and a bias strip,
but could not get the neckline to lay flat. Honestly, it
looked horrible. I think I cut the fabric in the wrong
direction, and did bad job with ironing, thus prohibiting
the stretch and shape necessary to conform to the
hyperdimensional neckline curves. I will have to prototype
this technique again, when my guts settle.
That's all I have to say about this dress. I am very proud
of my work. I have been sewing since I was little. It's nice
that I am starting to be able to realize the design and
construction of garments that express my personality,
flatter my body, and fill me with joy to wear. My thoughts
tend to waver on the significance of clothes. I sometimes
regard the labour of dressing to be a trifling affair. My
feelings, however, seem to know and understand the
significance and importance of what I put over my
body. After all, I am from a species that has had most of
its grown-on fur supplanted by clothes. Perhaps the making
and wearing of clothes are of great importance to my nature,
significant in their contributions to the activation and
comfort of my body, mind, and spirit.
P.s.: I'm not sure what to name the dress. If anyone has
suggestions, please send them my way.
Adjustments
------------------------------------------------------------
After wearing the dress for a few days, I have decided that
the upper arm movement is too restrictive for the dress to
be suitable as an every-day style. In certain contexts the
restricted arm movement could be tolerable or even a
favorable kinesthetic sensation. For example: writing and
reading tasks, food eating, and simple walks or
commutes. However, many of my significant tasks throughout a
day involving reaching over head. I could not tolerate the
restricted movement longer than needed. It's just not
practical.
I value practicality in clothes and other things. Pratical
clothes are comfortable, ununcumbering of movement,
extensions of the body. This dress has a back tie, which is
practical for how it lets me adjust the waist fit of the
garment while it is worn. The dress would be far more
practical if it had pockets, even. I could put a small
token, like a cat's eye marble, or a Canadian fifty cent
piece. I only opted out of pockets out of inability. I can
pratice a pocket on scrap fabric and then insert two into
the dress' side seams. It would be not difficult to add
pockets to the dress at a later time. Or I could attach a
patch pocket on the dress' skirt. The style would become
quite different, since pockets have an informality to
them. Funny, isn't it, that practical things are informal,
and formal things are stubborn or constricting.
For my next dress, I aim to construct the neckline with the
facing or binding technique. The pattern is mostly fine, and
I don't intend to modify it much. I have considered making a
variation of the using a pleat to shape the skirt. I may try
that! In any case, I will use some of the nicer fabric I
have, and choose a nice accent from the quilting
fabric. Probably it'll have pockets, too. Oh, and I will
need to cut the sleeves higher, more like Simplicity
9122. That sounds more like an everyday dress that would
allow practical interactions with my environment. I am
excited by these ideas!