Textured Black Dress

Happy Friday! Or if you've had the week I have, Friyay. After a week of numerous alterations, three dresses and two coats, I am dead tired and very thrilled about the weekend. But before I can head off to a weekend filled with family time, photoshoots, sleeps and dog walks, I'd love to share a dress I made for a customer. 

The same woman for whom I made this skirt, came to me and showed me this fabric and said she absolutely needs a cute little dress she can dress up and down according to the occasion. She didn't want any fuss or bling, a simple sleeveless dress with a fitted bodice and a fuller skirt. At first she couldn't decide whether she'd rather have the skirt pleated or gathered and we decided to see in the fitting which one she liked the best. So for the first fitting, half of the skirt was gathered and half was pleated. In the end we went for gathered look as it looked more harmonized with the fabric.

The main fabric was a knit which was combined of two thin layers. The top layer was attached to the bottom in a way that created this cool textured pattern in the fabric. The dress is also fully lined with the same fabric as I used for this skirt, this dress and this skirt.

The dress fastens with an invisible zipper in the back and the skirt seams are finished with overlocking. The main fabric skirt is hemmed with a twin needle and the lining is hemmed with a rolled hem.

I think the fabric is what truly makes this dress. It was a bit tricky to sew and was blunting my needles three times faster than usual and unpicking seams was not an option as it showed every sewn seam. But in the end it was worth it.

Here's a shot of the lining. Black is such a hard colour to photograph. Nothing really shows. But I promise you, it looked absolutely marvelous in real life. Also pardon the ragged look of my size small dress form, she really needed a change of clothing. And I have re-covered her by now with a cream fabric which should look better for photographs.