Knit Dress

Here is my most recent dress for my Draping and Construction II class. We were given a knit fabric to work with, very drapeable---and said we could choose to do whatever we wanted for this one....but had to be inspired somehow by the bonsai tree.

I chose to do front pleating with a seam down center front as a symbol of the roots of the bonsai. Upward texture of the tree was represented by braiding of the dress straps and splatter painting on the strap braids. My favorite part.

Added a cowl in the back for variations sake and thought it worked well because of the hand of the fabric.

Though sheer, this dress is versatile as it could be worn to bed, over a slip to the beach, or layered with a pant and cardigan for a night out with the girls.

For my pattern drafting class I am learning a lot right now, and have had to do a lot of samples of our patterns--meaning, sewing them in muslin(unfinished fabric) to test the pattern and fit of it on the dress form. I have made one basic skirt in regular fabric for that class and am working on a classic princess style top this weekend. That will be in regular fabric-found a pretty deep purple gray, woven fabric. Looking for buttons that funk it up and bring it together this weekend as I sew it together.

Photos soon of that, and my bustier project for draping class, which is made up of three layers---outside(decorative affect), foundation or middle layer where the boning is put in for support and structure, and inside lining. Have learned the first two and am sewing that this week, and will learn how to draft the pattern for the inside lining this week in class. So---finished project soon!