payback is a lace and silk chiffon...beast...

i’m going to call this my project runway make, because i finished it in the four hours i had free last sunday.  down-to-the-wire sewing is of course de riguer on that jammy, and if season 8 is any indicator, peeps are constantly choosing silk chiffon.  much to michael kors dismay.  that was my weapon of choice to pair with this chartreuse cotton lace, for one of my hopefully two (!) march lace makes over at MSN.  both fabrics are deliciously drapey, and this is my first time working with either!  that also seems to be a recurring them on le PR…much, again, to The Kors dismay.

i’ve messed around with poly lace and chiffon before, and the poly lace just doesn’t compare.  you look at this cotton lace IRL, and want dive into it with both paws open and swim around awhile.  it molds soooo nicely, i was able to stretch it across the four vertical darts on front and back bodice of this heavily modified vintage TNT pattern (simplicity 4290) and just go with bust darts.  regrettably, i had to go ahead and sew up the bust darts…i tried to do that whole couture lacey piecey thing and make them disappear into the bodice, but i think maybe the cotton lace is not the best friend of that technique?   i’m going to try it in my next go…still, i’m proud that the matching underlining has 10 darts, while the lace has only two.  

the silk chiffon was a beast, though!  a sexy beast, but a beast nonetheless!  perhaps i felt i needed punishment for sonja’s sewing dare, because i found myself returning to the scene of the crime, as any criminal will do, staring at all those silk prints… woooweee.  i walked away with two strangers.  know what I found out about my new girlfriends?   the silk chiffon.   she does not want to be toyed with, or hammered into a pleated skirt (34 pleats, to be exact, all ripped out).  she wants to be footloose ‘n fancy free, gathered to her sturdy lace bodice, and who am i to say no to a lady.

said lady has a double layer of chiffon to obscure le parts.   naturally.  the bodice is underlined only, you can see the darts on the inside, but i didn't want to add any more bulk there.

to be honest, my plan all along was this shape.  but Plan A morphed into Plan B when i lamented the lack of using the lace motif on the edges, then it went to Plan C when the lace cotton didn’t want to be motif-ed, then onto D when i thought i’d scrap the 34 chiffon pleats and make a tattered lace skirt from the remnants, and back full circle to A when i realized i had four hours to finish and only half a bodice done.  here's what it looked like, sunday high noon:

(you're not seeing double, those are two wolf dress forms.  anybodywannabuyaform?  morbid details soon.)

you may blame those scant four hours on sewing-dared sonja and new MSN adventuress lladybird lauren.  hell, let's throw karen under the bus while we're at it!  LET'S THROW ALLA THE NY HOARDS THIS PAST WEEKEND UNDER THE BUS!  those guys & gals have kept me out till all hours of the night for days.  

i had to rip out the zip, unpick handstitching & 34 pleats, then...you know what, i don't wanna think about it.  but i think the pressure helped me…if i had been languishing around the living room, just me ‘n my sewing gadgets, i probably would have gone all tunnel vision and churned out another piecy alien dress. i’m glad i had to wheel back around to my first instinct.  i think i like it!

especially avec burgundy belt and shiny blue shoes.  MUST WEAR ALL THE COLORS.  colors make me twirl.

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