another one bites the dust

an oona does it!, a mad men character... le double entendre.  wow, have the ladies over at the sew weekly ever been rocking this challenge.  to boot, mena's brought the fab four back with phasers. set. to. stun.  

this dress, like the character it was inspired by, had issues.  you might recognize the fabric from my levine haul with the C&C Factory (clio and chutzpah. lady leah, have you used your half of this yardage yet?).  i love this fabric.  it is most definitely some sort of poly, but the weight is so nice and hefty and i kinda dig the plasticky feel.

i know.

i thought you might like to see how it evolved, one sunny poolside sewing weekend:

first i threw the fabric at the dress form, placing the center fold on the center line of the body, then started pleating.

sipping my chardonnay, i decided i could eyeball the waist and sliced across.  WAY.  too high.  in all senses of the word.  but i didn't know it at the time.

then i began the skirt in the same manner, and matched the pleats with the bodice.

draped some back pieces-- just the right half of the back, then used those pieces to cut out the left half so they would be even.

the dress, as i thought it would be.  eventually it became much more wiggly, with a 2 inch wide waistband to accommodate for the supremely high waistline.  i'm not so much into the empire waist, though my scissors say different.  

(yeah, the cut was a bit sauced, but even though i cut it higher than the marked waistline, THAT mark isn't even right.  i had just spent four hours trying to get my old "uniquely you" to fit me AGAIN, and i thought i had it close. mais, non cigar.  can i just say how much i lovehate this foam form?  i've been draping like crazy since we dragged it out of storage, so there's the love, but i hate that, at the time this was so generously gifted to me, i didn't know enough about sewing to ask for a different form.  not that i'm an expert now; i am certain there's a trained professional out there looking at these process photos in abject horror, but man.  this thing is junky.  the price tag is absolutely unjustifiable.  wobbly tinker toy stand, breasts the size of mount vesuvius, and of course there are the ever protruding shoulders.  there's a reason they make 'em collapsible.  i fondled a PGM form down in the garment district the other day, and oh.  i want.  the tag is heftier, but with good reason.  and with enough saving, possible in daydreams.  and they make custom forms!  ahem.  parenthetical rant over.)

so!  there you have it, behind the scenes.  interesting at all?  have i shattered your illusions of my amount of draping knowledge?  if the drunken process is too much to bear, you can see more of the finished product (and find out what mad men character inspired the faux tie) in my post over at the sew weekly. 

happy friday y'all!