So I went on to shop for new fabrics (even though I have many potential fabrics at home, none were suitable as a CNY dress fabric cos they aren't red/orange enough). With my new fabric, I had new inspirations!
This was a design I quickly sketch in my Fashionary Sketchbook =)
And it became this!
One thing I learnt from this experience, was mostly about the drafting proportions. Also, I removed too much dart and added too much ease to the waist. Thus I needed to add a sash at the last minute to "tie it all up". Haha. But also because of the time constraint, I skipped interfacing my facing pieces. Which also turned out to be a nightmare for my front neckline. Oops! Lesson learnt. The hard way as usual.
I've wore this dress to school once and I got quite good comments about them! It makes me really happy. But as always, I see the flaws more than I see the beauty in it. So I'm not 100% happy with my work.
This dress was a last minute decision. I found this soft (and a little stretchy) linen at a really good price. And the weight it has gives it a good drape! Thus the decision to make a simple tube dress with it. This dress was literally finished on CNY eve (I even had to go through a mad dash to spotlight to buy elastic thread as all other shops are closed! And I was hand stitching the hem at the reunion dinner). Good thing is that I learnt to do shirring with this dress!
But as I was sewing, I started to regret it because the linen is so heavy! I was so scared of exposing myself in this dress cos of the weight! But luckily, with sufficient shirring, the elasticised portion at the bust area could hold the weight of the fabric. Thank goodness I didn't have to use the ugly straps I made!
I'm really happy I was able to make my own dresses for this CNY! Even though I can't go visiting still, people who come to my grandpa's house gave me good remarks about them (:
Making clothes is a very long and tedious process. One thing I learnt is that whatever looks good in sketches, may not look good on the person wearing it. For instance, I didn't have the height and the waist of a model. Thus, some dresses turned out to be more frumpy than I'd envisioned. Also, this personal project also teaches me some lessons about judging the right fabrics for the right design.
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A friend commented that she love how I always challenge myself in everything I do. I don't take the safest route, sometimes even routes that she (who's more advanced in sewing real clothes) don't agree on. But so far the decisions and the challenges I make seem to surprise her in a very good way.
In the drafting project that we're working on now, we had to make formal pants and jacket (aka a blazer). I chose crepe fabric and in contrasting purplish-blue and off-white. My fabric and colour choice was met with some doubts from some people. But seeing how my pants turned out, many people were surprised that the end result could be achieved by a fabric and colour contrast like that. So now that I'm working on my jacket, no one questions my decision in the areas that I would like to use contrasting colours on (as it's a suit, I'm using the same colours and fabrics as my pants). It actually makes me feel a little good that finally people can see that my visions and decisions can turn out to be good.
Hearing that comment (challenging myself in whatever I do) from my friend just brought that point to my attention. I never intentionally seek challenges. I guess it's my own principle never to stick only to the things I know. In everything I do, I want to know and to see, that I've learnt something from it. That's where I get my sense of satisfaction from. So it became a habit I guess, always to try new things.
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