~Taming the
Purple Monster~
Introducing the
latest frock in Tom’s Closet—christened “English Lavender” after the
sweet-smelling herb (although “Klära” also came to mind, as it reminds me a wee
bit of the illustrations in a children’s book based on everyone’s favorite
Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker.)
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| The original bodice design |
It all began
with 2.5+ yards of deep-lavender poly-rayon gabardine— the last of the
bolt— purchased at Hancock Fabrics in August of 2010. Like most fabrics I buy, this
one had to marinate in the Stash for a while before I could use it. Yeah,
that’s it. :-P (Actually, it takes me a while to decide which of the dozen
different designs floating around in my head would look best made up from my
fabrics.) Fast-forward to July of 2011. Our family had just seen Disney’s Rapunzel,
and I fell for her adorable little frock. While my gabardine wasn’t the same
pinky-purple-almost-plum-and-mauve as Rapunzel’s, it’s definitely a better
color on me. Long story short, I based my design on New Look 6206, drafting my
own custom-fitted princess-seamed bodice (since commercial ones hit me too
high) with a sweetheart neckline, and using my own drafted patterns for the
puffed upper- and fitted lower sleeves. (BTW, I should mention here that my
fabric was 60” wide.)
I’ll spare you a
detailed account of all the brick walls Mom and I hit trying to make this dress
a reality. Between fitting issues, feeling like a 40-year-old in a 6-year-old’s
Disney Princess costume (even though I gave up the “Rapunzel” idea fairly early
in the construction process), and the vintage zipper I’d worked so hard to
install breaking when I went to try on the dress for the umpteenth
time…Tom was not a happy monkey. The dress (such as it was), all the pieces
pertaining to it, and every last scrap of gabardine were tied up in a plastic grocery
sack and chucked into a dark corner under the big cutting table (and then that
night I slipped on the ice and tweaked my hip just in time for my own birthday.
Oy). Suffice it to say that I learned the hard way NOT to use my fashion fabric
for tinkering, experimenting or otherwise noodling with patterns I’ve never
used before. Especially if the fabric/color goes out of production. Which this
one did. :-P Is it any wonder this dress earned such epithets as:
~The Purple
Monster
~Gownzilla
~LavenDiva
…when I didn’t
just call it “that infernal dress!!!”?
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| Chop-chop! |
However, the
story has a happy ending, for all that. In May of 2012 I finally felt calm
enough to look at the thing again, and the creative juices started flowing once more. Gownzilla still had several tricks up its as yet uninstalled sleeves,
but by God’s aid and Mom’s faithful assistance (I love my Mommy! ♥), I was able to convert it into the dress pictured at the top of this page.
The original pointed waist proved to be too confusing—sewing it in didn’t work,
and folding and top-stitching was too fiddly—so we chopped off the point and made
it an Empire waist instead. The skirt looked dreadful with it, however, so we
took it (the skirt) apart, trimmed the slanted tops of the two front panels
(originally to be sewn to the pointed bodice) and used only three panels in the
skirt.
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| The 3-panel skirt |
The fourth one we used to make new lower sleeves, as the ones I’d cut
out were too short and ended up too tight when pulled up to the correct height.
Of course, pulling the skirt from natural waist to the Empire line made it
shorter, especially since the former front panels ended up shorter still once
we trimmed the tops.
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| No, the pic isn't crooked--it's the hem! |
It was still below-knee-length, but too short for the
style it had developed into, especially for a cooler-weather dress. So I took
every large scrap I had left (including the too-short original lower sleeves and linings), trimmed them into strips about 4” tall (ish) and
sewed them together into a ruffle.
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| Original lower sleeves and linings, folded to be cut |
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| Measuring and marking a large scrap |
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| Ta-da! Ruffle-strips! |
I’m too old for fluffy gathered ruffles, but
I love the look of what I call “micro-pleated” ones seen in this
pseudo-Victorian/Steampunk costume. There wasn’t enough fabric make tiny
knife-pleats all round the ruffle, so after some noodling (and snarking and
growling), I was able to make “clusters” of three ¼” pleats with a 1” space
between clusters. There is a cluster of six pleats in the center-back, and a 4”
box-pleat flanked by four pleats on each side, in center-front.
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| 1st attempt--straight micro-pleats |
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| What might have been but for a bit more fabric! |
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| Final solution--three-and-one |
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| Overall effect |
I’m not sure
I’d do this sort of thing again, as pressing all those little pleats turned out
to be more difficult and fiddly than I expected. Some of them disappeared
entirely at the bottom, while others hang at a slightly drunken angle…but from
a distance it gives the right effect.
As I said, the
“Rapunzel” idea faded pretty quickly once I realized how impractical a
near-faithful reproduction would be for Real Life. Pretty, yes. Relatively
simple, yes. But with the pink ribbons and pink-and-blue embroidery on “purple”
fabric…it seemed a bit Easter-eggish. However, a solid-colored dress always
seems rather plain to me—a blank canvass for some (modest) embellishment. In
the end I used this amazing vintage lace (still on its original card!)
purchased at a yard sale this past Summer.
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| Looks like Irish Crochet roses--perfect! |
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| A better view of Gorgeous Lace |
And what do you know? There was
enough not only to fill in the neckline (which felt a bit low for a Spring/Fall
dress) and accent the sleeves, but also to go round the “waist” seam and the
skirt where it met the ruffle. And there’s a good yard or more left over! It
that a God-thing, or what? :-D
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| Photo courtesy of Bro, Peter |
What I’m
Wearing:
Shoes: Bone “Granny” Boots—thrifted*
Stockings: White Sweater-tights—hand-me-down
from Mom
Dress: “English Lavender”—made by me
Necklace: “Wild Irish Rose”—Wild Rose Designs
and Laurie Sarah Designs
Hairstyle: Variation on Regency Updo (which unfortunately doesn't show up very well)
*These shoes—I love them, but they’re
size 9s, which is two sizes too big. I thought they’d work out, but they just
don’t fit me right. So I’m in the process of offering them for sale in a
Virtual Garage Sale…once I figure out how to do that….
This picture
was taken on November 11th, “English Lavender”’s debut at
church…which, ironically, was also the first day of The Migraine From The PIT,
which lasted over two weeks straight, followed by a week of neck pain from
stiff muscles and a strained spinal cord. OY! I always knew this dress was a
sweet little headache, but really!
But its second
wearing on December 8th—our church’s annual Christmas Dinner—was
more pleasant, and waaaaay less painful! The only differences this time were my
hair and shoes. I did “Swedish” braids (having run out of time for anything
more elegant—silly Tom!) with side-curls, and switched out the granny-boots for
my more comfortable White “Kid” Slippers (which, sadly, I don’t have a photo
of). And of course, I wore my trusty Wild Irish Rose necklace, this time set with an Amethyst cabochon:
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| ...which is so dark it looks black. Need a lavender cab for this frock! |
The dress still has
some issues to iron out (if possible)—mainly that the sleeves need to be moved
inwards. Between broad shoulders and a long upper chest area, I tend to look a
bit top-heavy in this frock. But my seam-ripper isn’t allowed anywhere near it
until Summertime, when it’ll be too hot to wear the dress anyway. :-P Eventually,
I may top-stitch the remaining lace into a V-shape on the bodice-front, to
connect the neck and “waist” visually. And Lord willing I can afford it, I
fancy some 3/8” velvet ribbon to cover all the lace-edges. Won’t that be
elegant?! :-D
On the whole,
though, I’m fairly pleased with how it turned out. It’s quickly becoming my
“party frock”!
Until next time,
Gentle Readers,
God bless
~“Tom”~
♥
