rippin and strippin

on our weekend dates at the mall, my nan would always say, if you like it, buy 2.  as a teenager i couldn't see the point in having a duplicate pair of jeans or a twin set of floral skirts, even if they were on sale, but now... if mood fabrics is having an online sale and its That Time Of The Month (by which i mean, time for my MSN project), well... IF YOU LIKE IT, BUY 6.

or 4 will do, especially when the yardage is 60 wide.  I LOVE A 60 WIDE.  when i ordered this striped cotton voile, i had no idea what i was going to do with it.  but white-n-black combos were on sale, and i applied nan's golden rule. snagged enough yardage to fearlessly cut and piece and drape till i like what i see, my favorite footloose activity. (apparently i’m not the only squirrel, she’s gone online.)

signs that i am binge watching Game Of Thrones: there are no zips, no snaps, there are only drawstrings.  they made swords, you’d think they could swing a zipper… no matter, these drawstrings are pretty much the most elegant medieval accessory ever: strips of carolina herrera silk chiffon.  oh yeeeeeeah.  she jumped in my cart too (and she's still there).  

i thought the two prints would pair nicely in some sort of paneled way, but the chiffon has a grayer tint against the voile.  however, there’s a delicious high relief twisty strip of bias running the length of the chiffon, so i just ripped a few yards every inch and boom!  designer drawstings, no fray.

teehee!  i get excited looking at the back!  

so, there’s a long chiffon strip encased in the front neckline, and another across the lower back panel. the upper sides are folded under & topstitched, leaving 4 ends to tie up any way you choose, gathering up as much or as little neckline as you like in the process.  as you can see from the top photo, the hemline reacts equally to how you choose to tie & gather (and i probably would have chosen multiple action/reactions for the camera, but mais, the photographer: he must be kept happy, and it was well into cocktail hour at this point.)

but i’m getting ahead of myself.  after creating front and back panels on the crossgrain, i cut two godets on the bias to give it sweep…

and sweep she has!  what she ain’t got: LINING.  what is it with me and voile?  i couldn’t bear to put anything more than skivvies between us.  she just feels so cool.  maybe she’s meant to be worn with a bathing suit.

i do believe the incredible heather lou will be coming to my rescue shortly in that department.  i'm FINALLY diving into the bombshell swimmie as part of the tour for pattern parcel three, the beautiful brainchild of jill & danny dorsey.  (you can click the icon in the sidebar for more info on this awesome venture; which supports the very near-and-dear-to-my-heart relationship of teacher/student.)  

bombshell by the weekeend!!  is it too early to be thinking about the weekend?

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