What better excuse to make a dress than when you've got tickets to meet Gertie Hirsch at a Garden Party on Melbourne Cup Day. (My excuse, anyway). Hosted by the Thread Den.
What to make? I think I took a while to decide.
I knew which fabric to use. Let me start there. A few years ago an infamous fabric store closed down, on the day that Jobs Warehouse closed down I acquired a roll of royal blue, silk dupion for $5 (yes, a whole 30 metres or so of this gorgeous fabric). It's been sitting there ever since. So, since it had bird poo on the selvage I cut off around 7 metres and sent it away to be dry cleaned (figured it would shrink in the process anyway, preferred that I do it now rather than after I'd made the dress).
As for the pattern, in the end, with too much choice on hand, I decided on Butterick B6412 a Gertie desinged pattern. I decided that since it was an older pattern it was unlikely that two other people in the room would make this dress. (I was right).
As for the design, I liked it. It was classic and probably the first time I'd decided to wear a circle skirt on a dress.
I made a toile:
I decided it was easier to redraft the circle skirt than grade this part of the pattern.
I liked it, so I decided to go with it.
Using Gertie's instructions from one of her books I attached horsehair braid to the lining to give it some flounce. That worked well. I decided not to attach it to the outer layer as I felt that I didn't want to hand sew the braid on by hand and may show through. The silk dupion is one of my favourite fabrics to work with, so no issues in this regard.
How do I feel about the pattern? (This is about the Butterick pattern and not the design).
Jury is out on this. I am unsure whether it is my grading or the pattern itself. On a Facebook site, someone mentioned that when they made this dress it gaped at the front. I didn't think it would, but, it did to some extent. If only had a red bra underneath, it would have gone with my accessories.
I need to have a bit of a whinge about sizing on commercial patterns, seriously they are out of line with the sizing used by indie designers. When I look around a room of women, very few would really fit in with commercial pattern sizing without an issue. I know, I am plus size, but it doesn't mean that I want to wear frumpy clothes, and neither does that mean that I want to wear one colour.
I am going to go back and sew down the center front bodice.
And so onto my afternoon at The Garden Party with Gertie. It was a delightful way to spend Melbourne Cup Day. It is the one day of the year where I think you can get away with dressing up to the nine's and no one will flinch an eyelid.
It was a pleasure to meet this designer keeping vintage fashion alive. Gertie was delightful to talk to. What a wonderful feeling that she must have to be able to travel to Australia to promote her books and patterns. I've often thought how one must feel when, someone becomes well known in the media, and they look back on what they've achieved, did they every think that this is where their path would have taken them?
Gertie is so photogenic (unlike me) and graceful.
It's great to have an event to sew for, and there were so many lovely garments sewn by others, particularly the one made from linen tea towels!
Happy sewing everyone.
Sandra
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