Little Non-Black Dress: Part Deux

The fabric is part of a package sent by Modechocolat, last November during the Patterns and Postcards Swap. I searched and searched for the perfect dress to make out of it and was overjoyed when I finally came across this Knipmode pattern.

I love this pattern-the pockets are pure perfection-they’re towards the front (bonus points for not being welted) and shaped like jeans pockets with separate pocket bags (I’m not a fan of side seam pockets-on anything. They move awkwardly and bulk everything up in the most unappealing way, gape increasingly hideously over time and just scream lazy drafting). The rest of the pattern is really well drafted as well-the back skirt piece (highlighted purple on the pattern placement diagram) has a slight bit of curvature to accomodate the buttocks.

I will eliminate that centre back skirt curve when I sew this up next, because I am happily bereft of the curves it is designed to accomodate.

Pattern: Knipmode 08/2012, Tunic 10 (magazine currently on sale here).

Bad styling, I know – hands hiding the awesome pockets, incongruous skinny belt lifting the dropped waist back to natural waist height, strange posture adding to the wha? factor. The fatal addition of the panama hat and jeans screams vengeful mum shames introverted progeny at after-school PTA meeting (front page of the school tabloid).

Lucky I only ever go by line diagrams. I think the background is meant to indicate the suitability of this pattern for remnant use/ refashions (or activate sleeper agents trained/ brainwashed during the double-denim drenched mid-80s). I can attest to its awesomeness for the former.

Fabric: Screen printed cotton, skirt portion lined with black rayon (Made in Japan, eff yea) also used for pocket bags.

Modifications: Shortened the front dart by 1.5 cm (should’ve shortened it by 2-2.5 cm) and moved it towares centre front to align at bust point.

Omitted the waist strip, belt carriers and flap pockets.

Shortened the waist by 2 cm and the hem by 1 cm.

Re-calculated the positioning of the remaining button attachment marks (the last button shown in the photo doesn’t actually exist on the pattern-I’m guessing it’s a safety pin+Photoshop special combo).

Used black hammer-on snaps (the size of my thumb increased in direct proportion to the steady incineration of my patience) instead of buttons because the fabric has enough going on as it is.

Black geometric microfibre tights by Gatta. Yellow tights from Gabriella (I don’t recommend the latter because they’re fairly see-through despite being listed as solid). I wore heck out of this throughout the holidays (without tights and with my Ottobre satin shorts underneath).

Disclaimer: All non-self-generated images remain copyright of their original owners and are reproduced here for the purposes of illustration, discussion and review.

Epilogue: My apologies to everyone that suffered palpitations as a result of my last post. It was meant to be an entertaining account (and warning) of the hideous misfortune of dealing with bad UX and clueless to non-existant customer service. Unfortunately it reminded a few readers of similar traumatic experiences of their own; I’m sorry for igniting your PTSD!