black and white but not so much "read"

this creation had a very quiet opening over at MSN a couple days ago, which tells me it might not be everyone's cup of tea...but here on planet kalkatroona the natives are digging it, even ruggy!!!   i LOVE it when ruggy likes something i've made!

que moody shots, eh?  i had no idea we could get such extraterrestrial light in our bedroom in the middle of the day.   weird, man.  the alien landscape must have affected me, think i could crack a smile?  inside i'm positively gleeful, i love this crazy dress tunic top thingamajig!

let me start at the beginning.  i was in the far left end of mood by the windows, in the back corner.  it seems to be inhabited by many designer bolts, and by denis, a much sought after, soft spoken breath of a gentleman.  i was hugging this bolt of caroline herrera wool & silk organza cacophony when he caught my eye.  ah, isn't it beautiful?  a pair of women tittered and fluttered behind him like groupies seeking attention.  YES.  how did they make that???  how would you WORK with it?  i whispered.  denis nodded sagely.  many have walked away from this bolt. 

i should have been one of the many, as i did my level best to destroy the two yards i walked away with.  i spent more time UNmaking it than making it.  my first thought was: maxi length skirt, which morphed into a circle skirt, which was poorly drafted and ended badly (truly, y'all, circle skirts are my achilles heel).  leave aside the fact that i underlined silk organza with two layers of polyester organza i had in my stash.   dude.  don't use margarine to cook a grass fed steak.  i looked like a holly hobby doll trying desperately to play designer dress up.

i amputated the herrera from the poly, and was left with bits and bobs, and two fairly large bias portions in the shape of drunken skirt panels. sadly, i said to ruggy i don't think i can save this without a dress form. 

let me remind you, i have only the very basic idea of how to drape.  as in, i know my ABCs up to about D.  but there were too many puzzle pieces in amoebic shapes to use for a pattern, and i thought if i could lay these pieces out on another (pinnable) body, i could save it.

again, here's where i ought to wish out loud for things more often, as a wolf form landed in my lap that very weekend (more on that to come...and possibly even another dress form landing today.  EGADS!).  the two skirt panels were turned upside down, becoming the main bodice piece and collar, and the other remnants became the long triangular sections at the sides. i repeated this equation on the back, and sliced up the middle for a zip.

note to self: get a cami that doesn't wrinkle. that's the cami fabric you see wrinkling like a pug puppy, the sheer organza, she lays nice and flat.

i also used up the remnants of my wool skirt to enclose all of the seams, that stuff doesn't fray, not one little bit! (oh, yeah, i'm in the process of refitting said skirt and haven't put it up in kalkatroona yet, but you can see it here on the MSN blog.)  the seams are on the outside, i placed a 5/8ths inch strip of black wool along all of the seams, and topstitched it down to enclose the raw edges.

a lot of careful surgery was performed on those seam allowances, i picked out every little bit of wool to make a flat edge.  lemme tell ya, this fabric was made by magical elves or something...

happy sunday, y'all.  i'm off to throw some lace and silk chiffon at a dress form.

this alien life form was made using my monthly fabric "allowance" as part of the Mood Sewing Network.