Reading Between the Lines!

Sometimes when your sewing mojo has taken a hike, the easiest way to motivate one's sewing self is through pure magazine inspiration.  In the age of all things digital, it's good to fall back on the satisfaction of simply flipping through the glossy editorial pages of a fashion magazine.  

At one point, I thought Issuu.com and Pinterest had almost ruined the experience for me.  But it's just something about daylight savings time and the turn of the new season that inspires me to grab an actual magazine.  No matter how many Pinterest boards I create, I still love to rip out those pages and push pin them to my inspiration corkboard.  I must know what they think is hot!

My inspiration for this dress was pulled from the pages of the April 2015 issue of Marie Claire.  The dress is Alexander Wang Pre-Fall 2015.

I had recently purchased this fabulous striped ponte knit from Mood Fabrics.com.  The weight and quality of this ponte knit is unlike any I've ever felt outside of a ready-to-wear garment.  If you're looking to make a fitted body-con dress, then I suggest you seek a ponte knit swatch from Mood.  

I used McCall's 6886, once again.  This is such a great basic pattern that is perfect for when you have a spectacular fabric that you want to be the star.

I used the same cut pieces as before, which was the size 14.  But I needed to shave down the sides by 1.5" each.  The stripes run horizontal... selvage to selvage.  But I cut it the other way for my look.  And instead of hemming the neckline, I wanted my dress to be a little closer to my inspiration piece.  So I used the black stripe in the fabric, that was serendipitously 1.25" wide.  Which was perfect for a 5/8" neck binding.  I just cut into the white part so that I would have a seam allowance.  How I did this was to trim down the neckline on the front and the back by 5/8".  And stitch the binding on as if it was meant to be like that.

 I'm thinking that this pattern is officially a "TNT" that I'll be making over and over.