Little black dress with a little extra

Even though we are still in stay safe at home days, I can’t help making something destined to go “downtown” whenever that time rolls along again.  I was trolling for black dress inspiration on the internet when I came across a fetching designer shift dress.  I knew I could squeeze this model out of a modest amount of a beguiling black fabric I purchased ages ago and- more important -I knew I could get pretty close to replicating the designer dress using a couple of old and reliable Vogue designer patterns I already owned.

 The body of the dress is cut from my absolute favorite pattern- tried and true Vogue DKNY 1809 shift dress pattern.  I lost track of how many times I’ve made this; I use this pattern as a jumping off point for countless projects. I was able to replicate the uber cool neckline by using another Vogue designer dress pattern of the same vintage- Vogue 2538. This pattern is a Vogue Paris Original and the designer is Claude Montana -a French designer popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Vogue designer patterns always have that extra something- it may be subtle but it makes a garment standout.

 This fabric is a designer dead-stock with a mystery fiber content.  It is definitely a synthetic and looks like a double knit.  I have never worked with a scuba knit, but based upon scuba’s described characteristics, my fabric potentially could be a scuba.  The adjectives “spongy” and thick definitely apply.  Here’s a close up of the cool honeycomb texture and the trims. 

The Vogue is typically lined which gives clean armhole and neck edges.  However, I typically don’t line knits because you need a lining with stretch.  Also, this beefy knit fabric has a comfortable and smooth backside, so I decided against a lining.  The collar finished the neck edge, but I needed to finish the armholes.  My first idea was to use armhole facings out of the same fashion fabric, but after sewing them in, I found the facings to be too bulky.  I took out the facings and finished the armholes with simple purchased black bias binding.  I hand tacked the binding down around the armholes for a tidy finish.

I was drawn to the subtle trimming on the designer inspiration dress.  Garment embellishment is rare for me.  Truth be told, I err on the plain and simple -maybe…uninteresting approach to dressing.  In fact, my middle daughter once pointed out that my chosen dress for an event was “just not very beautiful”  - Admittedly, she was a preschooler and my outfit didn’t include glitter, jewels, or any other sparkles- to top it off, it was black- not even a color!

 We all have our adornment comfort level.  Black on black and a little bit of gold is a safe choice.  It was a fun little journey looking for the black trim and horsey hardware.  I recognized the black braided trim, but didn’t know what it was called.  A little search on Etsy revealed this particular narrow braided textured trim is called gimp.   I did a little more looking and learned gimp was traditionally made of silk, wool or cotton, but these days, it’s mostly synthetic- polyester.   I was familiar with gimp used as trimming for traditional furniture and curtains and clothing- I was amazed to learn it is a longstanding adornment- it has been embellishing textiles for over five hundred years!

 I was momentarily stumped as to how to search for the gold equestrian looking trim piece.  After poking around- again on Etsy- using horse jewelry as a starting point, I found the perfect gold plated “snaffle bit”- another learning moment. while I still am a bit uncertain what this actually is, I know it looks spiff on this dress.

Ready to Wear Copycat

Shirt dresses are a wardrobe staple for me- particularly for work.  I purchased a sturdy navy corduroy from the Fabric Store to make another of these wardrobe workhorses for cool weather.  But, as often happens when sewing basics, I put this project off in favor of sparkly, shiny, new sewing projects.  Then, I stumbled across this brilliant ready to wear twist on a shirt dress here and I found the inspiration I needed to finally make this up. 

Let the pattern hacking-drafting begin.

First step in copycat dressmaking is to examine the pattern lines and scour my patterns to find the basic structural pieces.  When does hacking turn into drafting? I kind of based my pattern on Simplicity 2246- but very loosely. I changed up the front closure. The Simplicity pattern has a separate button placket and I was planning on using big buttons- like the inspiration dress -and a button placket would be too fussy.  I also added fish eye darts in the back for subtle shaping similar to the design I was following.  Then, I drafted the simple drop waist skirt piece. I didn’t simply draw a straight line rectangle.  The top piece needs a slight curve from side seam dipping in the middle.

Pretty straightforward- but then came the collar

I gained – the hard way - a bit of collar wisdom working my way through this.  I actually made and applied two separate collars- before landing on the final outcome.

There is plenty of collar terminology to wade through: applied or grown on, stand or flat, convertible or non-convertible.  On top of that there are a bunch of collar names: Peter Pan, shawl, Eton, mandarin etc. 

I never use the collar included in Simplicity 2246 because it is a one piece mock two piece stand collar- which I find a little unusual. I am generally most fond of a traditional two piece stand collar- despite the associated sewing challenges. On the inspiration dress, there isn’t a stand collar piece in front.  However- notice the bit of a stand in back – this is a mix of stand and flat collar.  This is exactly the collar construction I used in the Foreman jacket.  When you wear the collar open, you get a lapel look, and you can also wear the collar buttoned up.  This is called- appropriately-a convertible collar- because you get two collar looks.

I first gallantly made an attempt drafting and installing the mixed stand convertible collar with a back stand, but when installed the collar would not roll smoothly.  You can’t press or mold faux leather- so the drafting needs to be spot on. So the easier and ultimately successful solution was to draft and install a simple convertible collar.  Gertie has simple instructions for drafting a convertible collar here.

I am very pleased with my copycat look, and super happy with this riff on a traditional shirtdress. PS- notice the red nose- outside temperature is 20 degrees Fahrenheit!