The Bundle Challenge

Each contestant was sent a 6 yard bundle of fabric. We were instructed to use the 6 yards to make a  2 piece garment, and to be sure to  incorporate the three fabrics in some way.

The fabric bundle I received contained  a 2 yard piece of stiff grey woven with a faint shadow stripe.    A 1.5 yard piece of bright fuchsia slinky (acetate/lycra) with a defect down the length of the fabric and a 2.5 yard length of rose colored polyester knit.  All of which I would have normally relegated to my “fabric for muslin” pile, the knits because of fiber content and the woven for its hand/lack of drape.  But as a result of being forced to use them and liking the results, I may be more open to sewing these types of fabrics in the future.

My Bundle

I love the way slinky fabric looks and feels, but I had a memorial incident in my early years with acetate that makes me averse to using it for garments. I must have been about 12 years old and one evening  I was dressed in my silky grown up nightgown (as opposed to kid stuff flannel) sitting cross-legged on the floor, removing the nail polish from my nails. I over poured the polish remover on the tissue I was using and a large quantity splashed down on my nightgown,  dissolving the fabric and leaving a big hole in my lap.   A rather startling example of science in action.   Yes, nail polish remover, acetone, will dissolve acetate.  Acetate is also highly flammable, it flares up when it comes in contact with flame.  On the other hand these two characteristics make it easy to test mystery fabrics  for acetate content. I would recommend it for sleepwear.

The rose  knit and the fuchsia slinky clashed horribly in daylight,  but looked okay in indoor light. I thought small doses of the fuchsia on the rose would look planned and dilute the color intensity. Looking in my pattern stash for a very different pattern,  Vogue 1135 a Ralph Rucci dress, caught my eye, and I immediately thought that  instead of the  tucks in the bodice, appliqued strips of the fuchsia fabric  would look really neat. Coming up with a way to create and attach them took a lot of thought and samples.

Vogue 1135

The raised bands on the bodice are made using an applique quilting technique for make padded flower stems. A strip of fabric is folded in half with wrong sides together.  I serged the raw edges of the slinky strips to reduce curling and prevent slippage.  The strip is sewn to the background with the stitching line about 1/4 inch from the raw edge.  The opposite side is folded over the seam allowance to cover it and hand sewn to the background fabric resulting in a slightly raised, even width strip.

cut strips

  What a challenge this dress was! It has under arm gussets, lots of tucks which have to be marked then sewn, and an invisible zipper in a curved seam with matching of 3 bands and two tucks across the seam (hand basting required).

gusset and bands

 All the versions of this dress I have seen have  been sewn in dark colored fabrics which makes it hard to see the details.  Well, here it is in all its pink glory.  It is floor length dress on me and I am 5’8” tall. Usually I have to add to the length to Vogue patterns. The dress is actually very comfortable and fun to wear.  It swishes wonderfully.  I wish it was more fitted in the lower back. The fabric is loose and pools on my tush, but there are no seams to do alterations in that area.



being goofy - action shot

I had seen a lot of jean jackets worn over feminine dresses, a balance of structure versus unstructured.  So I used the gray fabric to make a short collarless jacket with jean jacket styling.  The jacket was top stitched in white. My serger developed repair issues between the dress and the jacket.  I resorted to finishing the inside seams with bias cut strips of silk. This jacket is a copy of a white denim RTW jacket I already own. 

jacket - copied from RTW

Jacket inside seams finished in silk bias strips

Jacket and dress

T.