Since July, I have been losing a little
bit of weight, and this made me want to wear more fitted clothing. I
have also been feeling more comfortable wearing these fitted dresses
and skirts. For my wedding last year, I have used Spanx. And they
work miracles.
All of this made me gravitate towards
Gertie's Wiggle dress. I have been admiring it for some time. First
in the book. If you don't know, it is the book cover look.
Further in the book, it is presented
with a few variations. Long sleeves, short sleeves, no sleeves,
drindl skirt etc. This dress is a sheath style with kimono sleeves.
It has a boat neck in front and a V at the back. It als has an
underarm gusset. This dress also makes you look like a beautiful
hourglass. I love the design of the hip line. It marks your waist
beautifully !
There have been a few versions in
blogland. Erika, of course, went for it. I think she liked the book
even more than I did ! The photo is even in her banner. I think
it is a style that would make many women look gorgeous. You just need
to feel ready to jump and go for it.
Our favourite Mad Men lady showed us
the way for the past few years. To be honest, without Joan, there are
a lot of things that would not have been in my radar at all. The
dress below if one of these exemples. I actually went for that color.
I also shortened the sleeves. This photo was a great inspiration for
this project.
Working on this dress went much
smoother than expected. I started from the size 16 for the bust and
upgraded to what should have been a size 18 from the waist down. And
the muslin was perfect. The only detail that needed changing was the
length : I had to shorten the skirt of approx. 10 cm. Shortening
the sleeves was tricky because I did not know where to cut. I tried a
few different cuts. I also had to slash through the gusset to be able
to go for that. I also added a lining due to the itchy nature of
wool. Here you go !
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| This has to be worn with high heels! |
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| I really love the marked waistline |
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| I think that the profile is less flattering compared to the front but still looks good |
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| This is the lining with a nice light rayon I had leftover from the bridesmaids dresses |
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| These are labels my Mister got me for Christmas from the Colettes pop up store |
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| I used bias leftover from another project for the armholes |
I also used it for the hem
All in all, I love the dress. It makes me feel like wearing high heels and put make up on. It also can make me feel fabulous when I feel less nice. I really really like it and I will defenetly use this pattern again.
Fantastic! And i love the color!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great look on you! I love the color and the design. Nice job. g
ReplyDeleteLovely dress. Those labels are a scream. Thanks for the pics of all the details.
ReplyDeleteThis is STUNNING on you! Gorgeous colour, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, too, love this book - I want to make almost all the dresses in it (unlike the Colette book, unfortunately). I even have a brocade that is similar to her one on the cover
Love the dress! You can't beat Joanie for inspiration … there is a woman who rocks her curves.
ReplyDeleteI love it! The label is a nice touch too. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm also a 16/18 pear - are we the same size? I've been following you for a long time and commenting under "Isidore", but I finally started blogging at denversews.com. We should compare patterns!
I have this book, but have not touched anything in it because I would also need to grade it. Have you posted something about how you do this? Especially for this dress, which does look very nice on you!
ReplyDeleteHi Joan, Thanks for your comment! For this dress, I used my usual upgrading technique. I explained it there: http://quirkyprettycute.blogspot.nl/2010/09/how-i-upgrade-pattern-easy-way.html
DeleteI think that I will write another blog post about how I upgrade in general, as a part of a project. Let me know if you have any questions!