Tormented by jersey

So, this dress actually worked out pretty well in the end, but those who follow me on Instagram will understand the torment that I'm talking about. Let's start with the fabric. It is the most beautiful, vibrant printed jersey from Mood. But it is also very heavy, something I really should have taken into account when planning this make. I'm still very much in love with the fabric, but I just think I chose the wrong style of dress for it's weight.

 

I started out with intentions of making a near identical replica of my tie dye dress, but with long sleeves for the Fall. Those who see me everyday are probably sick of the sight of my tie dye dress, but it is seriously so comfortable and swishy that I am helpless to resist it's sherbetty goodness each time I open my wardrobe. It's made from a similar feeling jersey, but much lighter in weight.

So I began making my new dress by cutting the sleeves, but straight ones suddenly felt too boring. I decided to play around with a flared, graduated elbow length shape instead. But when I attached them, they looked a bit hippy for me. So I cut those ones off and shortened them to what you see now, but not before experimenting with a bit of silk chiffon blocking. This actually looked great, but my silk scraps were too small and my arms would have needed amputation if I wore them for more than an hour. Truth be told, I think I was just having a finicky, impossible-to-please-me kind of day.

 

So, in the end, I settled on the short sleeves and finally decided to attach the floor length gathered skirt. It was pretty, but it was boring...to me anyway...why am I so fickle! I was looking at a very lovely bowl of creamy ice cream, but I was craving some kind of Heston Blumenthal frozen foam, which seriously wasn't going to happen with a piece of jersey. In any case, I didn't have to struggle too hard on my decision to unpick the skirt, because the  fabric was too heavy for the bodice anyway. 

So off came the gathered skirt and out came Alice (my dressmakers dummy). I draped that skirt within an inch of it's life, until I had the assymetrical look you see now. I still think that there's a bit too much weight on one side of the skirt so I may shorten it a little more, and hack at the innards a bit. But it is wearable, and I really love the asymmetrical drape that I ended up with. I'd also really love to know how I did it in the end...