Spring for Cotton and a dress I think I love, but I'm not sure that I do...

Have you heard? Lucky Lucille is starting a sew a long. Following the template of Fall for Cotton, Lucky Lucille is bringing us Spring for Cotton. The requirements for this sew a long? 100% cotton and vintage pattern inspiration. I know it sounds simple but isn't that what is so amazing about it? I've done the Fall for Cotton sew a long before and it was so much fun. I drafted my own pattern, and it was wildly successful.

Naturally I was once more inclined toward making my own pattern. I was inspired by a pattern book my friend gave me from 1947. There is this image in it that has this great rolled collar. I was fascinated by it and by figuring it out. It was like a fantastic puzzle! I just kept looking at it and I just wanted to know how it "rolled" to use the pun.

They classify this collar as a vest. It says it right there in black and white, but for some reason I kept trying to make it attach to my bodice. I was saying to myself, "Where does it attach to the bodice?". The answer is that it doesn't, it doesn't at all, it's a vest, and vests don't often attach to things, that is what makes them vests.

The whole process for this dress was fascinating to me and at the same time I wasn't sure that I liked it. Have you ever had that moment when you are drawn to a project and you cannot explain or understand why? I think that is where I am now. In theory I love this dress, in practice however, I am not sure that I do. 

I have decided to combine my late 40's bodice and vest with a more 50's inspired dirndl skirt. I want something that I can wear for spring and will look crisp for work. I drew it out and I was still oddly attracted to it but vexed as to why. Also at the time I drew this I was still thinking that this was not a vest and that it was part of the bodice some how. ***It took a while before I figured this out. It wasn't until I actually made the darn thing that I realized how it worked. I did not even learn this in the pattern phase. It made me feel a little dim, but it did actually work, so I guess it works.

Once I had my design worked out it was time to start patterning. I started by draping a simple two dart sloper. One of the reason's I went the direction of creating a sloper is because the 1947 pattern book uses a sloper as a starting point for pattern modification. On a side note I haven't had a sloper since I lost all my weight, so it was good to create a jumping off point for this and future projects.

After I had a draped sloper I commenced with the pattern modifications. All the while I was questioning this project and yet at the same time being drawn in further. It is a very strange and new sensation for me to be on the one hand incredibly certain and on the other hand highly suspect. It's exciting and a little scary.

When I first made up the muslin I was appalled by the collar. I think that the reason I was so repulsed by the collar was because it wasn't until I made the muslin and tried to attach the collar to the bodice that I realized this pattern piece needed to be a separate vest not an attached collar. It was very vexing. I wanted this collar to be attached and this pattern was being willfully disobedient. 

The more I looked at this collar and bodice, the more I began to love them. Like really love them. Once it really sunk in that the collar needed to be a separate vest I began to embrace it. Something that I also began to think about was what this dress may look like without the vest on. I mean if the vest was going to be separate, then the dress had better be cute! That part I am still working out, but I Have an inclination toward a fold back collar with an abstract mandarin stand. I haven't tested it out but I think it will work.

Another query I was having was how this collar was going to stay in place on the dress. Now that I have accepted that this collar was actually a vest I wanted to know that once on the dress it was going to stay in place and look cute. I think that I have realized that by employing a series buttonholes, loops, and belt like waistband, I could keep the vest where it needs to be and make it all work.

For now that's the where I am on this project. I have more questions than I usually do when I start a new endeavor, but that in and of itself is exciting. Who knows what road this dress will take me down, but it's exciting. I'm going to make this look GOOD!.