Striping the Sheers

Here’s my latest make! It’s Vogue 1301, in black silk organza and black nylon lace, lined and trimmed in pink silk twill. It should be great for warm weather socializing. I started with the pattern, then looked in my closet for fabrics that would go with it. My initial thought was to make it with velvet, but it takes a lot of fabric. I thought if I made it with velvet, it would end up weighing too much. So I went the diaphanous route.

I made a couple of changes to the pattern. The armhole seemed low, so I raised it a bit. After trying it on, I was glad I did. Also, the scarf piece, as drafted, was very long and very wide. I halved the width and kept the length. In addition, the pattern calls for the scarf piece to be permanently attached at the neckline. I thought this might make the dress hard to clean because the scarf would wrap around stuff in the washing machine, so I finished the neckline without the scarf, and just basted the scarf in place. I’ll remove the scarf for cleaning, then reattach it afterward. And I shortened the hem in the front. It seemed to me like there was just a little too much dress and some of it needed to go.

Back

side view. You can see the high-low hem.

scarf length

seam finish

front opening. You can see where I basted the scarf to the neckline.

Another scarf configuration

pattern

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