Racerback Tank Maxi Dress

I have made no secret my love for Helmut Lang His maxi racer back tank dress (photos at the end of the post, courtesy of bloomingdales.com).is a piece that I've admired ever since it made it to the retailers. So, I made something similar. I changed the front neckline to a less deep one and the underarm curve is higher also.

What I like about this design is the understated simplicity which renders itself to so many options as far as accessorizing. I can also see myself wearing the dress with a motocycle vest, leather jacket, or a fluid wrap.
Here ( I was leaving for the DIA to drop-off DH) the dress is worn with a jersey wrap/cozy worn in one of the dozens ways it can be styles. This video http://www.dkny.com/womens/cozy_video.html illustrates some of the ways and is really worth watching.

I used the pattern I had previously made for the racer back tanks, elongated it, and widened it at the hem.

The fabris is gray rayon jersey from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/.

Tje original Helmut Lang dress:

Ruched Sleeve Turtleneck(s)

I like ruched sleeves and turtlenecks, so I thought, “How about a ruched Turtleneck?” I was not sure how I wanted to do the ruching until I saw it in a RTW garment. The store had it only in black and the price was great considering the quality, so I bought it with the clear idea to copy it in other colors (which I did - in white and gray). BTW, the original top is by Miss Me, a line that delivers as-of-the-moment fashions at an affordable price.

Fabric: The RTW top is made from tissue-weight jersey (the black in the middle), whereas both mine are made from lightweight jersey – white and cobalt gray – from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/

Copying: For the purpose of copying RTW I like to use Glad Press’n Seal Multipurpose (indeed!) Sealing Wrap. It clings to the fabric and I just mark the lines with a marker, and then transfer to paper. The sleeve, of course, I could not copy this way. I basically redrafted it using the width and height of the sleeve cap. Finally I did a test garment and the sleeve needed very minor adjustments only.

Construction-wise, the interesting part about this top is that instead of bottom hem, the bottom edge is finished with a 3.5” wide band. Also, the front neckline is fairly low, more like it would be on a crewneck tee.

Personally, I love this style – a basic bodice and a different enough sleeve!

Below is something I found while browsing - it is a 3.1 Philip Lim Rosebud SleeveTurtleneck:

Fairly similar, right!

Quarter Sleeve Layering Blouson - Burda WOF 09-2007-120Review

Inspiration:
This top by VPL:

And this is me, sorry for the frown!


Description:
This is a raglan top, very low-cut front neckline and cowlneck-like collar. The sleeves are 7/8, the hem is cinched at the hips.

Size:
I could have cut this pattern in either size 36 or 38, but decided to go with the oversized (I think – modern) look and cut s.38. Here is the thing, my bust measurement is 34. The blouson measures 40.5” under the sleeves in size 38. My advise would be: If your fabric is fluid (as it should be for this top), go a size or two up. I actually wish I had gone 2 sizes up, to s.40.
Side note on Sizing:
IMO, if I go two sizes down in the bodice (not the sleeves) and lengthen the top to a dress knee-length, it would make a wonderful dress to be worn with a wide decorative belt.
Alterations:
1. Fit-wise:
Well, short of shortening the bodice 1”, none.
2. Design-wise:
I made the waistband 1.25” wide instead of 1” – a totally not major change. A more major change was omitting the waistband and extending the front and back pattern pieces with the length necessary to make a casing for 1” elastic. I did this because IMO it renders a RTW (as opposed to home-sewn) touch to the garment. Also, I omitted the front inset. I am going to use the top as a layering piece, thus, I thought the inset was redundant.
3. Construction-wise:
The magazine suggests you cut the collar as two pieces that connect at the fold of the collar. I think this is completely illogical; I cut it as one omitting a seam exactly where I wanted excellent drape.
Fabric:
Unless you aim at looking huge, you should choose a really fluid fabric. I went with a lightweight rayon fabric from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/. As of right now I have used every square inch of it and my only wish is to have bought more – such a great fabric and so pleasant to sew with and wear.

St. Tropez Tee

I had some remnants from the silk jersey I used for my maxi dress and wanted to make a top that would showcase how drapey the fabric is.
My yardage was limited though, so it had to be something streamlined. I was also inspired by the summer collection of the ultra-modern line MM6 designed by Maison Martin Margiela. Checksome of his summer stuff here: http://www.eluxury.com/estore/sales/public.jsp?catId=home&brand=900001, only I wanted something more resort-y, hence the name I chose for it - St. Tropez. Therefore, I went with a dolman short-sleeve tee/tunic, which was too fit loose but not as address, i.e. hug the hips. Did not find an exact pattern but Burda WOF has plenty dolman sleeve tops, so I got a good idea of what the pattern should look like.

Here is a sketch of the pattern and reference as to my measurements - same front and back, only the neckline on the front is deeper (pls, excuse my rookie sketch, I am not good at the illustration program.

I stabilized the shoulder seams with Fusi Knit bias strips

The hem is a single-fold one and coverstitched.

The sleeves are rolled up and tacked down.

Neckline: Let’s just start by saying that I dislike making necklines on knits, period. I know it is not a rocket science but to me it seems like a very fiddly affair (especially if RTW finish is desired)! So, I am not 100% happy with the neckline but it is as good as I’ll ever get it to be… Neckline woes aside, I think it is a fairly wearable top that can be dressed up with custom jewelry and a cool bag, as well as dressed down with yoga pants and a sports bra.

Maxi Dress

I have been reading in magazines that maxi dresses are in and wanted to make one. The design of this dress is not originally mine - I saw a similar dress last summer in a boutique downtown. I liked the simplicity of the design lines counteracted by the impact of the front drape.



The dress is made from yellow silk jersey purchased in the spring from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/. I love print but think I am too petite to wear one, so I went with a vivid color instead.

The construction is really simple – no hemming, two side seams, ¾” elastic in the back and a tie that drapes the front and goes behind the neck. The actual construction time, even if you are a slow and anal sewer like me, takes max of 2.5 hrs including the cutting of the fabric.

There is perhaps one construction point worth of mentioning. When folding down the casing for the ties, after the cf is slashed, a triangle is inserted to fill in the space. It helpd if the slash line is interfaced prior to slashing.

Construction simplicity apart, it took me 2 muslins to get it right. Fortunately, I had a few pieces of ugly poly knits in my stash :) Interestingly, for me at least, the hard part about getting the pattern right was having the side seam hanging perpendicular to the floor. The front drape tended to force the side seam to come forward to the front. The first photo below is of the 1st muslin (you can see by how much it was off) and on the 2nd muslin (as you can see) has the issue resolved:

This is the pattern I ended up with:

There was one last issue to be resolved – the modesty issue (the rayon jersey is transparent enough to make people look). In a nutshell, I considered two options: an undergarment and an underlining. I ruled out underlining the dress since I thought that there would be too much fabric in the front. I have a wonderfully lightweight rayon jersey in yellowish-ecru from http://www.emmaonesock.com/ and thought that it would be right for an undergarment. I also wanted to have the possibility of wearing the dress without the undergarment if say on a beach vacation where modesty would be a non-issue. My solution was to make a “tube” from fabric. How I did it: I wrapped the fabric around my hips to establish how wide the tube should be and a/flared out slightly towards the hem, and b/tapered ever so slightly towards the bust. The top edge is finished with delicate lingerie fold-over elastic. The piece is worn under a strapless bra if you wear a bra or by itself if your girls don’t need one. Thankfully, the fabric is so lightweight and silky that it does not bunch under the bra at all. Here is a picture that shows the sheerness of the material:

And here is the undergarment w/o and with a strapless bra:



Both the dress and the undergarment are unhemmed – the edge was cut with a blade and I applied a tiny bit of clear nail polish to the very edge.