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 no. 12: draped minidress

I was allowing myself to thumb through my Japanese pattern books for inspiration...and sure enough, inspiration was waiting for me in She Wears the Pants, by Yuko Takada.

I picked out no. 12: the draped minidress, realising I have exactly the fabric for it, and I was enticed by how simple it was, but also how clever - the grainline isn't at the centre of the front piece, presumably to alter the drape of the front.

Problem: my chest is 32.5, which is a small, but my waist and hip are solidly a size M.  I decided to size up, and I sincerely regretted that later - I didn't think through silk jersey, and how it would be better for it to be too small, and very clingy, rather than too big.

I sort of went my own way with the bindings doing a kind of hybrid bias binding on them, but otherwise the pattern was very simple.  Tracing the pattern, I thought about my previous experience trying to copy a Japanese dress (here) and how a very simple appearing decision like an offset grainline can make all the difference to the pattern.

You only trace 2 pieces. You measure your own bindings, and you mirror imagine the front piece to create 2, whereas the back is cut on the fold.  It was one of the simplest Japanese patterns I've ever traced out.  Of course adding seam allowances, a minor irritation.

Though my jersey was slippery, overall this is a very easy sew.
It's just like the model! Even the weird, hunched over look!  In my pictures I promise I'm not hunching. I do have a blue dress under it which shows at the hem (obviously and at the chest).

Not hunched over, for real!

You see I really should have sized down.  A size down would have indeed been clingy, not a bad thing in this fabric, and it also wouldn't have draped down to my belly button.  It may not quite show my belly button but I look down and see a lot so it feels like it exposes more than it does!   The weight of the drape comes directly from the shoulders so the bindings are a good support.  I really like how nicely finished this is, and how easily it came together.

As it is I'm happy with this experiment. I wore it to dinner at friends (they are part of my shared isolation bubble, no judging!) and layered a bra top under it and it was great. Also, looking over the book again the model is wearing a top under it so possibly it drapes down to her belly button too.

Thoughts:
size down if you are in between, especially in a heavier weight fabric
the front drape flips inside out at times, so a fabric that doesn't have an obvious reverse side is better.
easy dress! 

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.