I bought this beautiful red silk fabric at Mood a few months ago and since I had never worked with a fabric that was this costly, I was terrified to cut into it. I spent many months thinking over the technique…then rethinking…and over thinking… until I finally convinced myself to bite the bullet. I started with a preshrink in the tub using a mild shampoo instead of detergent since the fabric is delicate. The tub water turned blood red and looked incredibly sketchy. The fabric seemed to have lost a lot of dye but the color looks the same as it did at purchase time.

One of the things that I had decided on during the trial pattern process was to go with four panels instead of two. When I originally put the four panel pattern together the bunching on the side looked a lot better than with two panels. After steaming the fabric out, I pinned the patterns in place. This was my first time working with silk and I really had my work cut out for me. It’s very slippery and hard to work with overall. Since it also frays terribly, I used pinking shears to cut it out. Not sure if this is a proper or practiced technique, but it seems to have prevented fraying so far.

I steamed out the bottom panels and pinned them inside out on the dress form. Next step is determining the seam allowances and dart placement.

Here’s a photo of one of the biggest fashion influences that I’ve had in my life. My late grandmother, Agnes. She was a woman of limited means yet still possessed an impeccable fashion sense. She brought sewing, style and creativity into my life. Here is a family photo taken in the backyard of their home in Philadelphia sometime in the 1950’s (my guess is ’53). I’m even willing to bet that she made that outfit herself which so elegantly goes with her pin curls. Love it! Who are your style influences?

Happy New Year everyone! I’m normally not one for resolutions but this year I have made an exception. One of the biggest promises I’ve made to myself is dedicate more time and energy to sewing and The Hip Curve. Lately, I’ve been out of commission due to work obligations coupled with family time over the holidays. Devoting more time to my passion is a way for me to devote more time to myself. That being said, I have brought my focus back to the red gown with asymmetric shoulder that had occupied my time before my extended sabbatical.

Sources of inspiration for design have always been fascinating to me. Recently, while I was perusing vacation photos from my trip to Venice, I started to recall the feelings of inspiration that I had that lead to this particular dress. Here are a few photos that led to the creation of the sketch for this gown. Note the rich red fabrics, curves in architecture and black/white stripes:

A young street ventriloquist with a puppet performing to the song “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Doris Day.

Museo della Musica – a free exhibit with an impressive collection of instruments and lessons on violin making.

An outdoor orchestra located in Piazza San Marco that played the finale song to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Quite funny, actually. If anyone knows the name of the song, please let me know…

I hold this particular photo close to my heart. The picture is of me, my handsome fiancee and the fabulous maitre d’Vincenzo Serauto of the La Caravella restaurant where we got engaged. It was taken one day after our proposal.

I’m a huge fan of both Chelsea Lately and The Rachel Zoe Project so I just had to share this clip from Chelsea’s show last night. I love Rachel and her team but my biggest peeve with this season is how everything under the sun is a “disaster” or a “crisis”. Just watch…

(Update – The Chelsea Lately video was taken down from YouTube so I replaced it with this equally amazing spoof)

After finishing the baste stitching on the final pattern and trying the dress on, I discovered that the flare at the bottom of the dress is more prominent on one side. This means that there is more fabric on one side of the dress and the seams are not quite right. So, I decided to pull out all of the baste stitching and start again from scratch.

Since both pattern pieces match up evenly and the mistake was made in the pinning process, I did not need to rework the final pattern. To make pinning the dress around the form a bit easier this time, I started out by pinning the front and back panels to each other on all seams. After balancing the material out, draping the sides and finishing pinning, I baste stitched the seams again. I tried the dress on and it appears that the seams are matched up evenly this time. The fit is good and the bottom of the dress flows beautifully when I walk.

Once I was happy with the fit, I put the pattern back on the dress form and stylized the armhole. The armhole turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the dress and it wasn’t even in the original sketch! It dips down underneath the armpit and shows enough skin to look sexy chic and not too over the top. I also started on the pattern for the shell shape that will cover the right breast by cutting a large enough piece of muslin and attaching interfacing in the middle for stiffness. Unfortunately, the stiffness is not enough to hold the material up (the material is pinned to the form in the photo) so I am looking into other options. I read about using pellon interfacing for extreme stiffness and decided to explore that as an option…

My main goal with this dress right now is to combine the top and bottom pieces into one solid pattern. I pinned the top front and bottom front pieces together then removed all of the baste stitching. After ironing out the pinned pattern pieces, I pinned them to muslin. I cut out two panels from the muslin for the front and back panels. The solid pattern looks very obvious and I’m assuming that there is an easier way to do this eliminating a few steps for future reference.

After cutting out the pieces, I strategically pinned them together on the dress form. It worked! The two solid panels work just as well as when it was four pieces (top, bottom, front and back). I started to baste stitch the top and shoulder seams and will finish the rest tomorrow for a final fitting. Then it’s on to fabric shopping!

After removing the draped top pattern from the dress form, I ironed the material and cut around the edges to smooth out the lines. I then cut the pattern from another piece of muslin to create the top back panel.

Now that I have my two top pieces, I strategically draped them on the dress form. They both require bunching on the side and I wanted to make sure that the lines matched up from front to back. After I was happy with the way the bunching looked, I baste stitched the top panels together at the side, top and shoulder seams.

I placed the skirt panels back on the form and baste stitched them to the top panels with all seams matching up. I left open the seam that will hold the zipper so I could easily slide it off and on for fittings. After trying the dress on, I feel that it is ready for the final pattern. The only changes that will be made to the pattern are fusing the top and bottom panels into one. I also decided that I love the way the armpit hole on the left side is open which steps away from the original design. It adds just a touch of sexy to an overall classic gown.

After cutting out the bottom panels from muslin, I started to work on the pattern for the top. I can’t imagine how one would be able to draw the pattern out so I decided on the draping method with the help of Draping for Fashion Design by Hilde Jaffe & Nurie Relis. In order to determine the length of muslin I would need, I draped the fabric true to design and cut around it leaving at least 2 inches extra for movement and seam allowance (to be determined).

Once I had the muslin cut and draped for the top, I decided to baste stitch the bottom panels to test out the pattern. I’m very pleased with the skirt panels and didn’t feel the need to make any changes to the original pattern. I then draped both of the panels together to determine overall look and possible changes. The hem was also pinned up to see how the dress would fall. It turned out to be an exact replica of the original sketch. I’m loving it!

My ultimate goal is to somehow combine the top and bottom pattern into one. The design calls for an overall smooth, clean-line look. If I keep the dress in two panels, it comes off as too bridesmaid-y. After the top pattern is completed, I am going to try to combine the panels on paper. We shall see how that goes!

Marc Jacobs is brilliant! Discuss…

I needed to take a break from the pencil skirt that I have been working on recently and decided to start on a gown that I designed for the Venice-inspired line. This dress embodies the romantic feel and aesthetic of the city with it’s rich scarlet-red fabric, flowing lines and black and white striped silk on the bust.

Since I am new to design and construction, I am learning what works for me in terms of my own creative process. After sketching, my natural next step has become draping. This helps me to determine the functionality of the dress. It also helps with determining if I would like to make any changes to the original design. I draped with muslin and some old upholstery fabric that I used for pillows several years back. In this case, I am in between three different styles for the black and white striped fabric that covers the left breast. One is based on the original concept and the other two are slight variations minus a strap. What do you guys think?

After taking measurements, I started to draw out the first pattern draft. I finished the draft for the bottom but am still working on the top part of the dress. I ultimately would like for the dress to be in two panels (front and back) for a smoother, cleaner look. This is proving to be a bit challenging due to the asymmetry of the top. Any tips?