She wears the pants no. 12: revisiting the draped dress

 I wanted to branch out and try some new Japanese patterns, but I was a bit scared. Last time I tried to make the grecian dress I literally couldn't figure out how to trace it and I gave up.  So, suddenly fired up with the idea of Japanese patterns, revisiting some previous ones seemed like a good way to stretch those muscles before I committed to the tracing.  The original version of this pattern is here. I made this version in the same size M. 

I had a large piece of very slinky viscose and recalled that it would be perfect for this dress which was a big part of my interest.  I made it longer this time, but no other changes.  It was a quick sew.  I added some seam tape for the shoulders since the weight of the dress is all on those seams.  It really is a lovely pattern as long as you want excellent chest access.  And in fact, I made this with the plan to give it to a breastfeeding friend.  

Truthfully I think my first version was more interesting.  I would use this pattern again for a heavyweight drapey knit.  I think a lightweight knit shows too much!  Also, a patterned fabric made it more visually interesting.  

She wears the pants: draped cardi take 2

 The first version of this cardi was oddly bewitching. See it here. 

I wasn't sure whether short sleeves made any sense. The pockets were low, the cardi was ridiculous.  But something about the flow was very interesting.  A classic Japanese pattern result.  I thought at some point it would be interesting to come back to it with the recommended fabric.  I traced the pattern in size M and didn't, at the time, think that a smaller size would be better if I made it again. 

That moment arrived not too long ago when a friend made a comment and suddenly all I wanted to do was revisit the Japanese pattern books.  I dug through my knits and realised I had a beautiful coral linen knit that would be just the thing for this cardigan.  I thought I could improve on it by shortening the length horizontally above the pockets - this is easy enough to do by cutting and overlapping the pattern.  I also thought it could have something more in the way of sleeves with larger cuffs.  

Sewing it together was no problem.  It's an easy sew once you've done all the tracing work. 

 

But to my dismay the adjustments I made to the pattern were really unnecessary.  I don't think the extra sleeves are useful, they are loose and just hang in the way.  The linen is quite heavy, even if it's not heavier than the rayon blend I used the first time, and I think the change in length is superfluous - I do see it's shorter in my photos, but it didn't really feel shorter while wearing it.  My lesson here is that the Japanese pattern designers know best!  It's really hard to actually improve on their designs.  And I should probably try the smaller size if I make this again.  I wonder how it would be in a more lightweight knit that doesn't pull it down as much.  

Shape shape 2 double layer skirt in silk

My library had a copy of Shape Shape which I took home to peruse. I've been on a mission to make a poufy double or triple layer silk skirt and I recently acquired three colours of silk.  I was initially going to do a gathered skirt in three layers, but this caught my fancy instead.

I prepped a size small despite being worried that it will be too narrow in the hips.  The measurement is only off by 1" from my measurements, but I thought Japanese patterns tend to be really tiny.  I expect to make an M in Japanese patterns, not a small.

Ugh adding seam allowances.  But the pattern is only two pieces so I guess I shouldn't fuss too much.  It uses 2 separate rows of narrow elastic instead of a single wider elastic, which I thought was interesting.  Basically in the end you have 4 separate pieces of elastic around your waist. (Good? Bad? I'm actually thinking not very good.)

I used two of my three silks: silk organza in a very light gold colour, and brown crinkled silk, heavier than chiffon weight.  Because both are relatively transparent I did french seams on the sides and on the bottom where the two fabrics connect.

This turned into an exercise in imprecision. The crinkle silk was crinkled when I cut it, but obviously stretched when sewn.  I ended up with this:

I cut off that edge!

I overlocked the waistband before folding it over, and because of my french seams I then did the two waistbands separately, folding the waist over enough to hold both, but sewing down the top one, inserting the elastic, and then sewing down the second one.  The organza could have done with a tighter fit - the elastic slips around in the casing and it does rotate.  Since there are 4 elastics which are all slipping and twisting separately, the waistband isn't that comfortable.

End result: The waistbands bother me a little, but the concept of the skirt is still pretty fun. I can wear it in four ways - I think twisted looks more interesting than straight, and time will tell if the waistbands shift around a lot with movement/life/walking.

It's hard to tell if my fabrics make the skirt large, but it's definitely big enough.  The small was fine. The crinkle silk obviously stretches a LOT, and I will admit I cut out the organza without many pins (which is still more than usual!) ...so it might have shifted.

This would be fun to make in voile, and I think fabric that doesn't need french seams is better - you can use the technique in the instructions for the waist elastic, which will lead to it being tighter and not twisting as much.

Szeki 7115 & the Japanese dress

Otherwise known as Japanese pattern-copy-hell.

We all know from Japanese pattern books that the pattern pieces are deceptively simple.  A few pleats here, a slight angle there, and a pattern piece which is functionally a big square turns into an amazing, truly ingeniously draped work of art.

Despite which, when one of my work colleagues offered to let me borrow this nice dress from the pattern designer Szeki, I said yes with enthusiasm instead of with foreboding.  The dress was still on the website as the "kimono dress" in another colour, though I believe the one I was borrowing is a few seasons old.

Here is the original dress that I'm trying to copy.
 

The fabric is a blend of linen and viscose which gives it a lot of weight, a certain crispness, but also luxurious drape.  I had to search to find a similar fabric, which I got from Germany on Etsy. The seller has vanished, but the fabric is great - it was about 50/50 tencel and linen with a slubbed texture - just what I wanted.

In the meantime I had some cotton that I had bought in preparation for this pattern, just plain lawn.  However what happened is that I tried to trace the dress onto paper, and something in the middle was getting lost.  This dress is 2 copies of one just about rectangular pattern piece, with a mid front seam and a mid back seam.  There's a shoulder seam that creates the armholes.  So simple...yet not.

I could not properly capture the curve at the shoulder.
I had to cave in and use my fabric to make a muslin.  I basically pinned it onto the dress and cut around it and then copied my "muslin" and basted the two pieces together.  Then I laid the dress over it and tried to figure out what I'd done wrong.

The complexity was compounded because both the front and the back are V shapes, and I kept mixing them up.

I was excited and so I bought some fabric in the interim, from Miss Maude.  It's the viscose by Atelier Brunette so it's still luxury expensive stuff, but much lighter and floatier than the Japanese dress.

After the muslin, I traced that fabric onto a piece of tracing paper, lined *that one* up with the dress again, and finally decided it was as good as I could get.  I cut out my first attempt.  Here you go:

I had planned to make it shorter than the original anyway, but I only ordered 2 metres of fabric so I ended up also not having enough for the full length.  I reshaped the hem after cutting, to try to approach the semi-tulip of the original, and probably overdid it.  I just overlocked everything because I had little faith in my final outcome.  

On my version the shoulders sit a bit further forward and I originally thought I had it way off.  I realised after some tugging that the weight of this dress does not pull it backwards enough, but that my v shapes were close to the original - the back V is a bit smaller.  My armholes are much bigger. 

I modified the pattern after this, taking a strip out of the pattern piece that would functionally decrease volume and decrease how big the sleeve opening was.  I didn't change the V neck.

And finally in the viscose-linen:

I felt very frustrated at the end of all this and glad to be done with it.  My second copy mimics the original with all french seams on the inside.  It doesn't feel the same as the original when I have it on, but I was really surprised by my photos.  They look so similar!

This experience was hard!  I'm going to be even more appreciative of complex yet simple patterns, especially Japanese ones, after this.  The original dress & the identical copy go back to the owner, but I'm keeping the viscose version for myself.  I think it'll do as a summer dress.