Sewn Project: Red Off-shoulder, Scalloped Edge Dress

Finished dress!

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.

Scalloped details along the entire hemline <3

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.

Is a scallop edge difficult to make? It just takes more time and practice.

In-built horsehair along the neckline to maintain the structure.

 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.

Sewn in boning along the princess seams and sides.

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.

Had a great time today with these lovelies <3

Love,
Sarah Zainal