The fabric was pulled out of the stash as a possible option for the Houston Travel Wardrobe. Not that I included it in my inspiration board or my suitcase. This was however one of the few things that actually got made prior to the trip to Houston.
The finished garment
Love love love this dress. The fabric makes me happy (as do the booties!). It has been worn often for work and is very work appropriate. However I ended up with so many other choices for Houston that this one didn't make the cut, a bit too formal for a play trip.
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| Peppermint Patty Dress worn with Untouched World Ecopossum Graphite Coat Cardi and United Nude Zink Patch Mid Pop Mix bootie |
The fabric
The fabric from Marcy Tilton had long been admired but temptation resisted. Then there were just 1.5 yards left - a remnant how could I make a dress from that? I still bought it and thought maybe it would become trousers - ¾ length for the summer.
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| Peppermint Patty French Stretch Cotton Woven |
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| The Leftovers |
I am saving the selvedge for a future project maybe a stripe inserted into the side of trousers. It was just too pretty to throw away, so I carefully preserved all 57" inches of it.
I didn't notice until the fabric was a dress (and it was too late) that the flowers are in bands. In the dress front picture you can see that the bottom and top of the dress look slightly darker, and if you look carefully that there are lines of a darker red colour (there is one at my waist and at hip level). Not noticing these until the dress was made meant that they don't match front to back. Not sure I could have matched them with the limited fabric but you certainly can't match something you don't see!
The pattern
My TNT woven dress pattern is based on an amalgamation of two Silhouette Patterns #400 Traditional Blouse view 2 and #2010 Three-Piece Yoga Skirt.
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| The blouse pattern is described as offering a variety of optional looks with basic results. Mandarin, jewel neck or turtleneck collars are available with woven or knit fabrics. Long or short sleeves are also options for each view. These blouses are the greatest basic to any wardrobe! |
The pattern alterations
The dress top is based on the size 2 D-cup pattern; graded down to the size 1 at the waist and hips; wider waist darts in the front to provide more shape; shoulders narrowed slightly; and a 1/2 inch forward shoulder adjustment. The neckline has also been lowered.Once I saw the pictures of the back of the dress on me I made a 3/4" sway back adjustment to the pattern ready for next time I make it. Not sure why I have only now decided to make this easy alteration for the pool of fabric at centre back when I have made this dress many times before and blogged about it twice (Red Flower dress and Ahipara dress).
Due to fabric limitations the sleeve length is only slightly longer than cap length. This was as much as I could squeeze out after the back and front of the dress were cut out.
The sewing
The fabric was quite thick and frayed easily so all construction was done on the overlocker. Normally for a fabric that frays I use french seams but with this fabric they would have been too thick.For the neck finish I used a bought cream satin bias binding. The binding was sewn on with the sewing machine, pressed to the wrong side and then hand stitched down to the dress
The sleeve and dress hems were hand sewn as I didn't want a visible line of machine sewing.
The Peppermint Patty dress, like its predecessor the Red Flower dress, was taken to work with the hems pinned in place and I had to sew them so I could wear the dress that week. I find that this is a great strategy as hand sewing is easy to do in the hotel room and I am extra motivated to finish it otherwise I end up an outfit short for the week.
The photo shoot
Apparently I was being too demanding and the photographer got a bit fed up. Google very kindly made animations of a couple of the continuous streams of photographs he took.
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