Hello!
I started working on this dress since Saturday and took about 2-3 days to complete- from drafting to finish.
It's made out of excess red-polka dot cotton fabric which I already had at home and the dress is fully lined with white fabric. It has in-built boning structure as well (those stiff strips used to shape and structure corsets). I wanted it to be smoothed out and not wrinkly or droopy, hence, the additional support sewn in. Since it's going to be an off-shoulder dress, making the dress stay UP will be a problem without it, otherwise, an unwanted wardrobe malfunction is most likely to ensue.
The top is based off a raglan design so there are no seams joining the sleeves part to the bodice.
I started working on this dress since Saturday and took about 2-3 days to complete- from drafting to finish.
It's made out of excess red-polka dot cotton fabric which I already had at home and the dress is fully lined with white fabric. It has in-built boning structure as well (those stiff strips used to shape and structure corsets). I wanted it to be smoothed out and not wrinkly or droopy, hence, the additional support sewn in. Since it's going to be an off-shoulder dress, making the dress stay UP will be a problem without it, otherwise, an unwanted wardrobe malfunction is most likely to ensue.
The top is based off a raglan design so there are no seams joining the sleeves part to the bodice.
A couple of pointers for creating the scallop edge:
- Measure the length of the entire edge that will have the scallop finishing and determine the radius of each scallop you'd like. For this dress, the hemline is exactly a length of 100cm and each scallop is 5cm in radius. It's easier to work with whole numbers.
- Cut a semicircle template from cardboard based on the chosen radius length.
- Draw a line as a guide along the hemline and mark the radius divisions and then trace out the semicircles along the hemline
- With the right sides together, sew following the drawn scallop lines making sure each adjoining scallop tip ends with a 'V' or 'U' shape
- Trim excess to 5mm and notch edges.
- Flip it inside out and it's easier to push out the curves using the cardboard semicircle template
- Press using an iron and top-stitch if required. Since this material is pretty 'obedient' in a way that it stays in shape after ironing, I didn't do a top-stitch along the edge this time.
For this project I was focusing more on the inside of the garment as well. Since it was going to be off-shouldered, I figured it needed more support to prevent it from being droopy. So I used both boning and horsehair on the lining to keep it a little more stiff for the upper bodice.
It's comfortable and turned out the way I wanted, or better than expected actually, since it was supposed to only be a draft or test fit before I use a more expensive material to make the actual dress in mind.
Love,
Sarah Zainal
Sarah Zainal