TR Dress Part 2

I thought I'd share this with Handmade Monday. I know some of you folks already follow Wendy's blog - it seems like she's had a bit of a mare at the latest craft fair. Hope everything gets sorted out. So this is my contribution for this week.

Well I'm on to the second toile. I cut the pattern pieces nice and flat and marked the notches to enable me to match the pieces accurately. I was surprised how easily I managed to do this.

I used some remainder curtain fabric and a valance sheet that doesn't fit any of our beds - hence the slight ruffle on the bottom edge. There is a little puckering on some of the curves, but given that this is my first attempt that's not a problem. Now to find suitable fabric to make the real thing in.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this, any suggestions for improving the curves and avoiding puckering? Fabric suggestions? Thoughts on the design?

TR Dess Part 1

I've become a little obsessed with the Transformation Reconstruction method of pattern designing. and have spent hours looking at videos on you tube documenting different techniques.

I thought I would have a go at a ribbon dress. I used the coffee date dress pattern from the burda website as a basic template. and made a muslin.

I then cut into the skirt and added sections to part of the skirt to create fullness. Being rather slapdash and rather impatient I stuck these in using sellotape.

Then I traced the line of the ribbon.- apparently you need to hit 3 dart points to ensure the pieces will be flat. - this did seem to work.

I adjusted this line and blocked the area with cross hatching to ensure I didn't get the pieces mixed up. The checked the line and adjusted where necessary, adding  notch marks to aid matching when reconstructing. then I cut carefully along the line.

That's it so far. I don't always make a muslin, but for this I will make a second one. I need to know that it will work before investing in some nice fabric - as it is rather heavy on the amount needed. Keep checking back and i'll update you as I go along. Hopefully it will work and look good.