At the beginning of summer, I made my daughter a quick little cotton dress - cut in shoulders, A line, contrast collar, from Burda Style 04-2013-109.
technical drawing from http://www.burdafashion.com/fr/Magazines/burda_Style
Somehow I forgot to put it on the blog, but she really liked it, and reported constant wear and unsolicitations.
Due to the ease of constructing this dress, and the reported wearing success, it came to mind when I was considering her annual birthday sewn present, with only a few days to go ( there is nothing like a self inflicted deadline for getting the sewing mojo stirred up).
I had a gorgeous piece of unusual pleated silk crepe lurking in the stash with Daughter the first in mind (Lisa Ho remnant, via The Fabric Store, Brisbane) and it seemed an excellent match for the simple pattern. This time I used version B, with a back opening and no contrast neckline, to keep things even more uncluttered.
Naturally, this being a birthday dress, I took a bit of trouble with the construction.
I lined the dress with silk habuti, some of which in exactly the right shade was also in the stash (I love my stash), and piped the neckline and armscyes -using a double layer of the habuti, as it was a bit thin and showed the perle embroidery cotton I use for mini piping through a single layer.
The pleats of the silk crepe looked a bit ruffled at the neckline, so I controlled them with some beading.
I then could not find a suitable button - so did some beading on a self covered button (with2 layers of the habuti lining) for a little added interest at the back. The back opening is just the right length to avoid bra back exposure. This is unlike the cut in shoulders, which needed lingerie straps in order to avoid strap exposure with a normal bra.
Inside, all the pleated crepe edges are finished with bias habuti.
I am very pleased with the outcome.I think this is a very versatile after 5 dress. It is such an unusual fabric, that it needed a very simple pattern to showcase it suitably.
