Sunday, October 31, 2010

Camouflage

My sewing space was recently featured over at The Blue Gardenia Blog. It was all cleaned up when I took those pictures. Now it looks like a tornado came through. Fall fabrics and patterns lying in piles all over the place.

I wanted an easy project after the Karl Lagerfeld jacket so I picked a pile with an autumn print knit and McCall’s pattern 6163.

The dress is described as close fitting, above mid knee length, with mock wrap front gathered at left side, collar, collar band, raglan sleeve, side zipper and stitched hem.
The poly knit fabric is from JoAnne Fabric and is a print type that I have heard called “a shadow print” because it looks like the shadows of a leafy branch. When I modeled the finished dress, my husband‘s first comment was “That looks like camouflage”. Not exactly the comment I was expecting, but it got me thinking about using prints to camouflage things. This darkish random print tends to hide body bumps which is good, but it also hides style details. If I didn't know it was there, I would never noticed the collar. It turns out the print's camouflage like properties were fortuitous for another reason. I had a sewing disaster making the dress. I laid it down on the table to trim the side seams, but it wasn’t laying flat and I inadvertently sliced into the back hip area.
I didn’t have enough fabric to cut another back piece. To salvage the dress, I cut a large patch from the same part of the print and hand appliquéd it over the cut, matching the print and turning under about ¼ inch seam allowance.
I turned the dress to the wrong side and trimmed away the fabric around the cut to match the edge of the seam allowances of the patch.
Then I turned the seam allowance out so I could see where my hand stitching just caught the edge of the fabric and machine stitched exactly on that line of stitches. I removed the hand stitches and pressed. Basically I inserted a circular section of fabric into the original garment matching the print, making it almost invisible. The technique was described in a Threads magazine article on insetting decorative shapes into a garment. I used the technique to patch my dress and the print helps camouflage the patch. This is a closeup picture, but to the naked eye it is almost invisible.
Wheh! I am glad I was able to pull the repair job off because I really like how the dress turned out.


32 comments:

  1. Shame about your cutting accident - I did the same thing on my last project. The dress is perfect for you. Love the fabric and have added the pattern to my autumn wishlist.

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  2. What an amazing save on this dress -- If you don't point out the patch, nobody will know!

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  3. Been there, done that! Good save; the dress is gorgeous.

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  4. Even with the little booboo, your dress looks great on you!

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  5. I'm glad you were able to repair it also because that is a very pretty dress you've made! A great dress to help usher fall in!

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  6. Great repair job. The dress looks fabulous!

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  7. What a fantastic dress. You look great!

    And good work on the patch job. Its nice to know that other sewists make the same mistakes as me ( but I don't do such a good job of camouflaging them!)

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  8. Good fix! The dress looks very classy. I hadn't noticed that pattern before. Very nice :)

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  9. Beautiful dress, and great save. The print is awesome.

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  10. Great save and great looking dress!! I have this pattern on the top of my dress sewing projects. It looks very flattering on you. I hope I have the same results.

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  11. I have had cutting accidents and they are so frustrating. You did an excellent job on saving that dress. It is gorgeous and you look fantasticin it!!

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  12. Wow, I'm amazed you saved the dress. It's a pretty dress and has a great fit.

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  13. This is a great dress and I am so glad you were able to repair it. Looks wonderful on you.

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  14. Don't you sometimes wish life had an "undo" button just like the computer? Excellent fix on what could have been a disaster. The dress looks lovely on you!

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  15. What a great save. The dress is beautiful and very becoming.

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  16. Your dress looks amazing and that patch is a great save. Now why did I use a plain fabric?

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  17. I have had my eye on this pattern, and am glad to see how great it looks on you. It spurs me on to want to make it even more. Your fabric patch-up job is very precise. Nice save!

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  18. Audrey, this turned out great! It looks very sophisticated on you and fits wonderfully. Good save on the boo-boo - I myself have found the most dangerous item in my sewing room to be my pinking shears - I once was pinking the seams on a beautiful wool skirt I made and, whoops! My fix wasn't nearly as cool as yours though.

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  19. That's absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for highlighting your "patch job", too. I never would have thought of that!

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  20. That is a great dress! Thank you for describing your fix, too. I've needed that in the past--for some cuts, interfacing and a zigzag stitch are not quite enough.

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  21. Beautiful dress, very flattering on you.

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  22. Geez, I hate when that happens! Nice save, though. Your dress looks terrific.

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  23. That is a gorgeous dress; congratulations on such a great save!

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  24. Nice save and beautiful dress on you! I agree with your husband that it reminds me of camouflage.

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  25. Beautiful dress and it's so slimming!! So glad you were able to fix it!!

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  26. Great dress! I have never seen how someone else salvages a mistaken cut on a garment, great to see how its done. Since it is a sure bet that I'll be making plenty more mistake, I am stealing your method!!
    Love your sense of style too!!

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  27. Wow, that dress looks awesome on you!! You should definitely put that in your TNT dress pattern pile.

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  28. What a wonderful dress on you! And great save --- looks very clean. I'll have to remember that for my next cutting "moment"!

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  29. This is a really flattering dress! Thanks for explaining how you patched it up. I'm sure to be able to use that technique in the future!

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  30. Incredible save on a lovely dress. I am impressed! Thanks for the reminder that the 'ruined' project can often be salvaged if you just get creative.

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  31. Great save. It is invisible and perfectly matched. I like the design lines of this pattern as well.

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