day seven: navy sweater dress

I love draping for garment design; the method, much more than flat pattern-making, allows the fabric to dictate the direction of the design, because you immediately see how the material falls on the form, where it wants to contour, what shape it will or won't take. This is particularly useful for me, as my starting point is usually recycled clothing, each piece with a unique stretch factor, shape and yardage, weight, and existing design details to take advantage of.



My day seven project was an interesting challenge when it came to to the design details - specifically how best to place them without sacrificing economy of fabric-usage. When making dresses from sweaters in the past, I've usually used the body of the sweater for the skirt, keeping the existing hem finish at the bottom, and making a bodice or bust from the sleeves. However, the sweater I started with here had a front body-only pattern that I thought would look strange if isolated below the waist. I moved the individual pieces around until I came up with an orientation I liked (hem ribbing over the bust like a tube dress) and then lengthened the skirt using pieces from the sleeves. The original strapless design looked a bit flimsy to me, so I pleated the original sleeve caps and draped them into a square front neckline, with a V-neck back. The final design has a nice retro feel to it. It looks somewhat sack-like on the hanger (or, more accurately, on the floor), but hangs nicely on the body and looks really sexy with a wide belt.