Monday, May 10, 2010

Lemon Tree Dress

I suppose you think I've just been dutifully working on my background dress. Well, I had to sneak in another little project just for fun. A lemony, summery treat of a dress!

This is made from a silk and cotton blend that I bought at Mood. I love fruit prints, don't you? And this one was so unusual I couldn't pass it up, especially in this luscious, slightly sheer blend.

The pattern is Advance 9441, one of the first vintage patterns I ever bought!

The only fitting change I made was to add a little width to the waist (no girdles in the summer, please!) and shorten the sleeves just a tad. And of course take some major length off the skirt, but that's a given for me with vintage patterns. I'm wearing it here without a crinoline, but it would be fun to add one for a super fluffy skirt.

Hey look, here's a shot with my new beige shoes! These are the Clarks I posted about here. I love them!
Henry doesn't care about the shoes, he just wanted to know when he was getting dinner.

This pattern is pretty simple and I went with a minimal, vintage-style construction. I used a metal zipper (one of the Riri zips that I lusted about in this post) and hand-picked it.

I just love this technique; it makes a garment feel so special I think. (Here's an excellent article on hand-picked zippers, by the way.)

I opted not to line and am wearing a slip with the dress instead. I pinked the seam allowances and facings.

Because this fabric is ever-so-slightly sheer, facings were a bit of a challenge. With a bold print like this, you run the risk of the facings showing through to the outside. First, I used a flesh-toned silk organza as interfacing. Then, to avoid show-through on the right side of the dress, I lined the back of the facings in a rayon lining fabric that matches my skin tone. This works like a nude bra - you can't detect it from the outside. Here are the layers of my facings:

(You'll notice that I got a cutting mat and rotary cutter - a birthday gift from my parents! I don't know how I lived without these tools.)

This pattern has underarm gussets - my first! They went in just fine.

I covered a belt buckle using a Dritz kit, purchased from Pacific Trim here in New York. I used 1" belting from Steinlauf and Stoller for the actual belt itself.

That's all for now! I've got a kitty that needs feeding . . .

50 comments:

  1. That dress is utterly gorgeous and you look fab in it.

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  2. I just love your Lemon Tree Dress. It makes me think of a bright and happy day. Thanks for the sewing tips on the facing. I am new to sewing and love hearing different ways to do things. Love your kitty too.

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  3. I love it! So summery yet refined. I love all the details you put into it, they definitely make a difference. And of course - you look fabulous in it.

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  4. Very cute dress. I love the lemons, it makes me think of summer inmediately. Thanks for the link to the hand-picking of the zipper. I never thought of doing it that way, but it sounds like something I absolutely want to try!

    Oh and the shoes? Gorgeous!

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  5. I used to have a dress with a print very similar to that when I was a little girl. :-)

    Thank you for sharing the inside details. It's always interesting to see how others makes the finishing and how the thoughts go.

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  6. Ooh, those shoes are nice - and they look even nicer on! Are they as comfy as you were hoping for? The dress is lovely too of course! Love the print.

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  7. That dress is fantastic -- perfect for summer.

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  8. Marvellous. Love the fabric. Thinking now whether any of my patterns have a gusseted pit that I can practice. Hmmm....

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  9. What a gorgeous print! And the dress is perfection with your new shoes.

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  10. Lemon is such a mood brightener, good choice! The dress is so sweet. I love it when you show construction pics and details of your sewing, thanks! The shoes make your legs look long slender:)

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  11. A "little project" - ha!

    This is so pretty. The fabric is so lovely - perfect for spring/summer. I appreciate the construction pictures; I find them to be very helpful.

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  12. Beautiful dress! I'm glad that you got those shoes, they look great. Your technique on the facings is genius, I've been wrestling with buying semi-sheer fabrics for the sheer (ba dum dum chhh) difficulty of facings that won't show through. I never thought to use flesh-toned fabric! I am really jealous of your fabric selections - there just aren't any wonderful fabric stores in Boston (Winmill is about as close as we get to having "fashion" fabrics, but they're mostly super stretchy and/or chiffon). They did, however, have a great selection of organza. Maybe next time I'm down there I will buy a yard or two of flesh-tone fabric.

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  13. Beautiful, really, just gorgeous. And so glad you got the rotary cutter!

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  14. It's great. You must have a pretty freakin' awesome wardrobe by now!

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  15. Wonderful dress on you ! Yes, I agree linings sometimes do take away from certain styles - I can't see it on the Lemon dress without weighting it down. I love the shoes - we have a clark's outlet here and I have been smitten!

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  16. I especially love the placement of the pattern on the front bodice! The way the vines kind of look like they're creeping over one shoulder is really beautiful.

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  17. you look great, and I love the dress! That fabric is so perfect. I am impressed by the belt, as well ;]

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  18. Oh gosh! It's so sweet and the perfect compliment to some summertime groove. Love love love it! Thanks for the tip about the facings. I'm actually facing this problem and will be incoporating this into my next project.

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  19. Pretty please could you do a tutorial for the Dritz buckle kits? I can not figure them out!

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  20. Absolutely gorgeous. Love the lemon print, so summery! And what a nice job you did on the zipper, too. Love the dress, looks great on you!

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  21. Cute dress!! It's perfect for spring! I love the metal zip!

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  22. What a gorgeous spring dress! So uplifing, and it looks perfect with your new shoes.

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  23. I just came across your blog looking for sewing tutorials. I love your idea to create Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing. Such an incredibly creative idea. I can't wait to try some of the looks (esp. the bow-tied blouse and gathered skirt)

    This dress is gorgeous, btw. Ahh, you are going to make me spend way too much money at the fabric store ;)

    Melanie@Unravelled Threads

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  24. So pretty and summery! I'm feeling a glass of lemonade coming on....

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  25. Beautiful dress and the zipper is gorgeous.

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  26. This dress is just gorgeous. I am super impressed with your zipper and belt. Way to go girl!

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  27. Lovely fabric, lovely dress. I think it would look awesome with a crinoline!
    Did you do something to you hair? It looks even nicer than usual. (There's some major hair-jealousy going on here...)

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  28. Great job. Love the self covered belt. The dress is just gorgeous.

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  29. Love the frock,love the fabric,love your attention to detail!

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  30. Gertie, when you post a finished project I always make gasp with delight and surprise. I love the lined facing tip. This is such a happy! dress. I love yellow and green.

    elizabethe

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  31. This turned out really cute. Love the fabric, and great idea with the nude facings/lining!

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  32. Ii have been searching for a belt buckle covering kit all over and can't seem to find one! I'm glad to see that they still exist and I wasn't just imagining them. Do you know if they are carried online anywhere?

    And I'm also in love with that lemon fabric, it's so fresh and summery.

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  33. Oh this is pretty. I really like the colours and the print and the style. I have green shoes that would match, so when you get tired of it, send it my way.

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  34. Love your dress, you are so talented!

    Love Ms Stef...

    http://theadventuresofmsstephanie.blogspot.com/

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  35. wow, seeing the fabric posted and now the dress is like... watching a pretty little girl grow up into a voluptuous and beautiful woman. You look so stunning in the close up shot of you, guess its hard not to beam after such an accomplishment. Glad to see you are rocking the nude shoes with a light and airy dress the way they were meant to be.

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  36. The dress is beautiful and fresh - you look gorgeous in it. The shoes look absolutely fabulous. Great job. Hope Henry enjoyed his meal!

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  37. Beautiful.. the dress and the kitteh! The pinked facings are so pretty too... something I haven't considered since I have an overlocker, but they really add to the vintage feel.
    Speaking of which... can you, Gertie, or any of your readers solve a retro pattern mystery for me?
    http://stylewilderness.blogspot.com/2010/05/maternity-mystery.html

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  38. Your dress truly has a vintage feel. It must be that gorgeous lemon print! (Why am I suddenly thirsty?)

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  39. The dress is sooo gorgeous. I love everything about - from the pattern over the fabric up to the fabric covered belt buckle!

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  40. Gertie, I really love this dress. I love how bright and happy it is. I think the shoes are very nice, too. I think because they are nude, the eye automatically goes up to the dress; basically, the shoes do not take attention away from the dress.

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  41. Beautiful dress - very happy, summery and quite delicious. Love those shoes too!

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  42. So creative to use nude colored facing! I'll have to remember this sometime.
    Also, loving the nude sandals. Major shoe lust!

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  43. I'm in love with that dress. The fabric is so lovely!
    -Andi x

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  44. Smashing... Love the print! And the shape is also gorgeous. Always inspiring, Gertie! Even making a non-print-girl thinking of prints...

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  45. Eep! I love that print, mostly because I have a minor obsession with citrus. Beautiful!

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  46. This looks exactly like a vintage dress I have! I wonder if it's the same pattern. I wish the person who made it was as clever as you, though, because it's not lined at all and the polka dots in the facings always show through.

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  47. Hi Gertie, just letting you know and hope u don't mind that I used one of your images from this post for my post on handpicked zippers (http://www.sewmelove.com/2012/11/goodbye-invisible-zippers-hello.html)

    :)

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

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