Monday 26 September 2011

Floral Wedding Wiggle

Ok, so here's what's happening today. I'm going to show you a dress that I finished weeks ago but have been waiting to get hold of the pics which were on Patty's camera. This dress was made to wear at the wedding of one of Patty's sisters. It was one of those occassions when the pattern and fabric appeared to me together like an apparition, I was given little choice but to go ahead and get the damn thing made!

I made it using one of those re-pro patterns, Butterick 6582 in this case, which I'd got hold sent from the US earlier this year. So, what's the deal with these re-pro patterns? Are they meant to be exact reprints? Or have they been adjusted to accommodate a more modern figure, by lowering the bust darts, for example? I couldn't really tell from this one as it gets its bust shaping from shoulder gathers instead of bust darts, and there seemed little in the way of other clues to go on.

Well, I think I was made aware of this pattern over on Sew Retro, but I'd only seen people make the full-skirted version (view C). I can't really understand that as the wiggle versions look so hot! The fabric is a lovely cotton sateen with a decent stretch content which makes the dress far more wearable than I imagine it would have been if I'd made it in 1960 with only non-stretch wovens at my disposal. It has a retro-y mid-century style paint effect cabbage rose design in magenta and turquoise. I saw this fabric last year in a fabric shop in Leigh in Essex with my mum. As you may know, I don't buy new fabric when I can help it so pawed at the roll for a bit and walked away. My lovely clever mum clocked my fabric-love and went back and bought me a couple of metres which she gave me for my birthday last October, bless!

Now, I decided to make life easy on myself and cut out the need to make a toile. I frankenstein'd this pattern with the one I made my coral dress and leopard rockabilly dress from. When I made that first coral version, I'd taken a lot of time to get the fit perfect and even found the motivation to transfer those markings back onto the pattern for future ease. It seemed silly to disregard that hard work. However, the frankensteining process wasn't as easy as I'd imagined it would be as the shoulder points and waistlines of the two patterns didn't tally up particularly well. I fudged it a bit then added a bit extra to the side seams to allow for any early-middle age spread that may have occurred over the last couple of years, and called the job a good 'un.

The construction process as dictated by the instructions bothered me somewhat, but I didn't have the time to spend on figuring out an alternative. In the end, I decided their way was actually pretty good, though I did the facings/zip insertion differently than instructed. (I'm such a rebel.)

A mid-way fitting proved that I needed to remove much of the extra width I'd added around the bum and hip area (woo hoo!). So with that skimmed off again, I finished it up. In general, I'm really happy with the outcome, however there are two inperfections that might niggle me if I were to let them. The first is that the 'V' of the cross over at the centre front isn't quite perfectly central. The second is that the fabric I used was a bit too heavy for the gathered shoulder detail. If I'd felt I needed a third from the same pattern, I might have done better to use this fabric with the original coral/leopard rockabilly dresses pattern to keep the fabric smooth. But I do think making another of those would have been pretty boring (actually I made another one of those this year for someone else, so it would have been my fourth) and the print disguises the shoulder imperfections.

What's left to do but DANCE??!!!!!!!!!!!!

27 comments:

Sølvi said...

Your mother is a clever one for picking up that fabric for you, because that is GORGEOUS! And I love that you´ve made a wiggle dress of it, perfect combo!

You look smashing, and I love that your man´s tie matches your dress. Great thinking! :-)

Coastalharp said...

Gorgeous dress! The print and style are wonderful, especially for wearing to a wedding.

Marie said...

You look stunning in that dress & I particularly love the fabric you.your mum chose ;o)

Cat said...

Oh my friend and I just did a retro dress sewalong and she chose the same dress. I believe the neckline is supposed to be asymmetrical? She lowered hers and the asymmetry is more noticeable and quite flattering! On a personal level, I tend to associate the wiggle dress with sex-appeal, and that's not really what I'm going for when sewing things for every day, and I haven't had need to sew anything special occasion yet. Your dress was inspiring though, the choice of fabric just gorgeous(go Mum!) and has definitely made me reconsider! :)

Molly Katherine Harries said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Molly Katherine Harries said...

wow, what a dress! You're right about the wiggle version being hot! and it looks great with that print fabric.

I've been eyeing off this pattern for sometime, I may just have to go ahead and purchase it now :)

Anonymous said...

Fab dress! I love that fabric and the fit looks perfect!

jadestar said...

Gorgeous dress. I love the fabric. DOn't let anything niggle you. It looks great on you.

Anonymous said...

You're so clever. So if your mum! I love the fabric and the dress looks perfect to me. Sexy success!

Roobeedoo said...

Ooh gorgeous! That fabric is perfect for it too!

Rosesred said...

What a perfect party dress. The imperfections you mention aren't noticable in the photos. You look fantastic in those colors.

Alessa said...

What an awesome dress, I love the contrast between the elegant lines and the loud rose print! Kudos to your Mom for picking up the fabric!

Suzanne said...

It's totally adorable and you look great in it!

Kestrel said...

It's a gorgeous dress and you look great in it - perfect choice of fabric for the style.

Tilly said...

This is STUNNING! Wowzers. A perfect dress, non? The fabric is absolutely dreamy and you're right, the wiggle dress is HOT!! You look gorgeous in it, to boot x

Nikki said...

Wow! What a fabulous dress! Love it!

Camelia Crinoline said...

It's gorgeous. I love the fabric. I've had that same repro pattern for ages but haven't made it yet. After seeing yours I might have to give it a try.

Anonymous said...

It looks fabulous - we wont tell about the supposed imperfections because no-one will ever notice! Wear it with pride.

katherine h said...

Those colours look stunning on you! Great fabric choice.

Jane said...

This is a truly gorgeous dress Zoe and you look fab in it dancing with your handsome beau! And as for your mum... what an angel! I love that story. x

Law said...

Pretty and sexy dress Zoe.
(sigh) oh how i wish i had the confidence to try a wiggle dress, let alone make my own. The last two pics of you and Pat are super hot :o)

Sigrid said...

Aren't moms great? You look fabulous in that style and I agree the fabric is just perfect for the pattern.

HazWool said...

I love your dress, you look fantastic. I used this pattern to make an outfit to wear to a wedding but it was a disaster! Thankfully I found a vintage dress in a charity shop, or I'd have had nothing to wear.

frk.bustad said...

Great fabric!! It really, really suits you. Really stunning!

Neeno said...

So gorgeous Zo! I love it!
I love wiggle dresses but I have fitting issues around the bum area :/
I get the weird wrinkle, that slant into a V shape... any idea why I get that? Once I figure out how to fix that I will be keen to wiggle away ! :P

Neeno said...

Hey Zo great dress! So hot!
I love wiggle skirts but i have major fitting issues... I get weird wrinkles over my bum area :/ like a giant V shaped wrinkle over my but. Any idea why that is? If you have any advice I would be forever grateful :)

Elizabeth Greenfield said...

I just happen to be starting from the beginning of your blog and working my way to the present...and this is where I'm at right now. This dress is absolutely stunning on you!

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