Abstract Floral Appliqué

Sometimes a project comes together even better than expected.

I will admit that I was disappointed when my first muslin of Vogue 9125 did not turn out exactly as I had hoped.

But sometimes having to work through a problem can really turn out for the best!

And I am quite pleased with how this dress turned out.  

Scaling up the design also made this one of the faster Alabama Chanin style projects I have worked on.

If there is anything that I would change about this garment, it would be the 100% cotton jersey, which stretched out slightly after wearing the dress all day.  Those many, many running stitches that created the appliqué certainly help to combat that problem, but the silhouette probably would have worked better with a little bit of extra recovery built into the textile. 

That said, I am not sure I would have enjoyed hand sewing through a fabric with lycra or spandex.  And I do not think that the issue is all that noticeable.

For the moment, I am going to keep my altered muslin.  I may end up adding some extra ease and trying to make this in a woven, or perhaps I will find a suitable knit that I really like.  I would love to get my hands on a heavier weight merino knit . . .

And now I need to think up another project with lots of hand stitching to keep my hand busy.  I keep meaning to play around with some wool felt as an appliqué medium, but I am starting to dream of Spring colors and fabrics, so that may have to wait until the Fall.  But I am sure I will find something else to keep me occupied until then!

Dress:  Made by me, Vogue 9125

Shoes:  Banana Republic
Earrings:  Banana Republic

Hand Stitched

I can only go so long before I need a project that will require a whole lot of hand stitching.

I made a stencil of this Alabama Chanin design a while back, but never actually got around to using it.  Until now!

And then a few months back, I made a muslin of Vogue 9125.  It ended up more snug than I like in a woven, but it seemed that it might work in a stretch fabric.  This just happens to be one of those designs that suggests both woven and knit fabrics which I really do not understand.  In this case, the dress appears to be drafted more for a knit than a woven.

Time for a change of plans!

Which meant that I would not need any extra seam allowance to play with, so they were trimmed off of the muslin/pattern pieces. 

I had just enough white cotton jersey stashed away for the dress, so it seemed like it was meant to be.   

Then I had to decide on a color scheme - and this is what I came up with.

The oversized stencil design made this a fairly quick project.

At least, quicker than my previous hand appliquéd projects!

For this particular dress, I decided to use a double strand of embroidery floss to appliqué the two layers together.

It is not the strongest thread option out there, but the massive choice of color options makes the embroidery floss very tempting.

And since this dress really does not have much negative ease, I did not anticipate a problem with my thread choice.

I did use a button and carpet thread for the seams, just to be safe.

The topstitching, however, is embroidery floss.  (I definitely have a tendency to choose difficult to match fabric!)

I was slightly concerned that the large motifs that would be cut away might make my fabric choice a little too thin for my taste, but it turned out just fine.

And then a whole lot of hand stitching later . . .

and I had a new dress!

I continue to love the raw edge look that the original Alabama Chanin pieces have, but I just cannot get used to the idea of leaving edges raw.  Especially with fabrics that curl.

I did, however, use a single fold, so those raw edges are on display from the inside of the garment.  What a rebel, right!  And I guarantee that this is just about as anti-seam binding as I am ever going to get . . .