Fabric Mart Fabricista Challenge #2

 
I've completed my second entry for the Fabric Mart Fashionista Challenge  and I need your support!
If you are a fan of my look would you please click over and VOTE FOR ME!  The competition is stiff so I appreciate all the support I can get! 

The details of my entry are below and I have to say if you like wrap dresses they are one of the easiest projects you could complete.  I am especially a fan of the Style Arc Kate dress that I used here since it gives great coverage and I never worry that it will be too revealing. 

Inspiration:

There is so much inspiration to be drawn from the DVF website, I especially loved looking at her runway looks.  My inspiration for this dress was drawn from three of my favorite DVF dresses.  The first one being her Wool and Lace Wrap Dress.  The back on this dress is stunning.  Although I love this look it would be impractical for me to try to wear an open back lace dress- I'm thinking along the lines of what is work appropriate.  So I decided to line mine with swimwear lining.  I love the way this bodice highlights the small of the waist.  The second dress that caught my eye was the Linda Wool Wrap dress.  The DVF version is cashmere- swoon- and I love the cozy look of it, perfect for fall, not to mention the beautiful shade of gray.  Although I don't have cashmere knit factored into my sewing budget I can get a similar look with a gray heavier weight knit.  The last dress that inspired my look was the China Short Wool Wrap dress, I loved the cuff treatment on this dress and just had to have cuffs like this on my version.  A lot of the inspiration I wanted to mimic was in the small details of the dresses.          

Fit and Construction:

I made quite a few of pattern changes to get my look.  I started with the Style Arc Kate Dress and used the front panel with no gathers for both sides of the front eliminating the gathered look.  I also slashed the pattern at the waist where the side tie would come through the dress so as to align the split back with the finished ties.  After slashing the dress I simply added seam allowances at both slashed edges.  For the sleeves I folded the sleeve up to be a 3/4 length sleeve and drafted a cuff with curved edges.  I also added a lot of length to the ties pinning and cutting them as I sewed the dress.  And lastly took about three inches off the bottom of the dress.

I've made this dress before so I knew the fit would be pretty forgiving and close to perfect.  I added a smidge of width to the back hip area to make a little room for my bum.  I really wanted the ties and edge of the black back lace contrast to hit at the smallest point of my waist so positioning the ties and slash of the dress back were important to get right.  I also pinned down the ties and the cuffs to the sleeves to get the positioning of those right as well.  I ended up shaving 3/8 inch off the length of my sleeves. 

 

As far as construction goes, I really want to encourage anyone out there wondering if they can make a dress like this on their regular machine that indeed it can be done!  As I went along I basted and zig-zag stitched everything together before serging so as to check the fit and to make sure everything would lay down nicely, but I've made a knit wrap dress entirely with a zig-zag stitch in the past.  The trick is in knowing how to stabilize your seams.  I used 3/8 wide clear elastic around the neckline of this dress- which worked perfectly since this pattern has 3/8 inch seam allowances.  I did not draft facings for this pattern since I've found that facings sometimes backfire and want to flip all over the place- poo on that, who wants a flippin' facing lol!  I used 1 inch wide strips of fusible tricot interfacing around the hem, front hems of the front panels and at the back waist where I joined the black lace bodice to the skirt.  In sewing the back contrast bodice I used swimwear lining not only to line the lace but it also served to stabilize the lace.  I basted the two together before attaching them to the back skirt portion. 

 

 

Final thoughts:      

This dress is a great place to start if anyone is interested in knocking off designer looks.  Knit wrap dresses are incredibly forgiving and extremely easy to construct.  And knocking off some of the small details is very doable.  I know I will get a ton of wear out of this dress and am so glad I've been able to participate in this round of the Fabricista challenge.