Paisley's Back

Updated Caftan - New Look 6715

          I've always liked paisley and simply designed flowing dresses.  It's the old hippie in me.   I wore a caftan-style evening dress to my senior prom - which telegraphs my exact age, I suppose.  Despite the fact that nowadays I'm looking for professional business clothes, New Look 6715, a slightly fitted caftan designed to be made in soft fabrics, was a natural for me.  View A called my name.  It's been in  my pattern stash for a couple of years.

         This year  paisley is on trend and so are dresses and classic jackets, because of the "equestrienne" thing.  I like the look of simple silky dresses made of scarf-like materials, worn under tailored jackets. It looks  relaxed and luxe at the same time.    Among the paisleys in my stash,  I had  a multicolored paisley charmeuse remnant from Joannes, with a scarf-like look to it. So it was time to dig out the fabric and pattern and get going.  I realize I'm breaking the adage:   if you were old enough to wear a trend the first time it was in fashion, you are too old to wear it now.  Let's ignore that, okay?

Here is the fabric and pattern ready to go.

My original intention was to add trim to the front of the dress, like on the pattern drawing,  but the finished dress looked too polished to add any type of trim.  I added, instead, a self-fabric shawl collar/band with ties.  The tie allows the v, which is deep, to be more modest, for business purposes, and looks great under a jacket.

Here is the caftan unbelted, two views, neither of which  photographed in exactly the right color.  Looking at these, its clear the dress looks better without tights.

Here is the dress belted, and under a jacket.

From Pattern Review:  I wear a size 8 retail so made a size 12.

I never used this kind of fabric before. The fabric frayed badly, and did not hold a finger pressing even long enough for the fleet second it takes to grab the iron. The pattern intended for the sleeves, hem, and side vents to be machine hemmed but, after machine hemming the sleeves, I did not like the look so hand hemmed the rest. However, because of the wild fraying, I am reluctant to rip out the machine hemmed sleeves. They'll just stay that way.

The V neckline in the caftan is low, which is okay except the facing makes it stand away from the body when you lean forward, so rather than adding trim -which did not seem like it would actually look good on the finished dress - I decided to use the sash as a narrow band, extending a bit into the open V, which solves the modesty issue. The band is folded into a narrow shawl collar around the back neck edge, with the ties loose at the base of the V for tying.


Despite the design modifications and the fraying fabric, I loved this pattern and am already thinking about other fabrics to make it again.

 

Rescued 80's Challis via Butterick 4132

 I finally decided to use the pretty rayon challis I've rescued from one of those 1980's working-girl era full skirts. I wore it under a long sweater with shoulder pads back in the day.  The sweater's long gone and good riddance. Over the years,though,  every time I clean out the closet and winnow the wardrobe, I keep the skirt because the fabric is beautiful - very soft,  rich green with cherries, fun yet elegant - the kind of fabric you never see in retail clothing any more. 

I decided to use Butterick 4132.  The sewing folks at pattern review loved this pattern and the drapiness would make the most of the fabric's qualities.  It also appeared to use very little fabric to make view A.  But more about that later.  You can see that I recorded the pattern review folks' A+ score on the envelope along with a note that they said to beware of the  facings for the flutter-sleeved version.


I had plenty of fabric once I released it from the skirt, laundered & ironed it and straightened the edges - or so I thought.  Two big panels. I held the pattern pieces up against it in a casual kind of way and decided it would work fine.  However, I forgot to take into account the fact that the pattern is cut on the bias. The pattern is designed with the cowl attached to front and armhole facings.  The cowl doubles back onto itself and attaches to face the armholes - which makes for a big piece, wide from top to bottom.  On the bias, I didn't have enough width for the top of the pattern piece,  so I had to forgo the inside armhole facings and make narrow hems on the armholes instead.  It was easy, though, because the front and back are cut on the bias.  I'm glad I did, because the facing in the back seems a little overly bulky for the softness and lightness for the rest of the top.

The cowl is cut like a large scarf, tongue shaped, inside the blouse, which is nice for coverage when you lean forward. It drapes from fairly wide on the shoulders, which is very attractive and rich looking.

I looks exactly like the picture on the envelope, too, which is always a happy result.

Here it is loose and tucked in.  The tucked pic was taken in the mirror at my office with better color clarity but since I had to hold the camera, throws the drapery off a bit.  It doesn't photograph terribly well  but looks great. Very elegant and flattering. 

Grange fair

Plans for the Grange Fair this year: I bought several different varieties fo Abutilon via ebay sellers and will see which turns out best. Last year, the shrimp plant took second place to a spectacular topiary pepper bush.

August 22, 2008: plans

I'd been thinking about patterns past, particularly a vogue wrap dress by Calvin Klein that I made in college. I thought of it because I am tired of all the knit patterned wrap dresses that are seen everywhere, and wanted a wrap in a soft woven fabric.

Back in college, this was my favorite dress, and remains my favorite dress remembered. Like so many things, once remembered, it's worth a look on ebay to see if it can be not only remembered but regained. I found it, in the right size and uncut - well, maybe the right size with a little pattern adjustment. I no longer have the kind of body in the pattern photo. We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to see if I can adapt this and update it a little.

I have some fabrics in my stash that I want to consider. I'll upload photos when available.