UFO # 9

Today I finaly finished up a dress that had its inspiration in a challenge for the Seams Possible ASG Neighborhood Group. This project started here last October. I needed to make something with mauve, using a stepped satin stitch and inspired by the movie Sergeant York (1941). The color was the easy part as I had just picked up seven yards of fabric that had mauve in it about an hour before someone gave me the challenge. The stepped satin stitch was also easy to incorporate as it is nice decoratve stitch. How to incoporate these elements with the movie seemed impossible until I re-watched the movie and noticed that York's mother wore a mother hubbard type dress in a couple of the early scenes in the movie.

Mother Hubbard dresses are essentially big sacks with the shaping coming from the apron that seemed perpetually tied on to keep the dress clean. I decide to make a modern take on this style of dress. I cut the fabric into four long pieces, two for the front and two for the back. I then pleated each piece at the eventual high waist. I then discovered that four pieces would make a dress for someone the size of my car so I discarded one of the peieces. I then sewed up two of the pieces from the hem to about four inches above the pleating to form a loose v-neck.

At that point I sewed up the sides. I then separated the v-neck open to about five columns of colors and sewed shoulder seams. I then noticed that I had no arm holes so I cut a couple of holes for my arms and rolled over the edges to neaten them up. I took the seam allowances at the shoulder seams and sewed them into casing for a ribbon I thought I would be using. I made the casings and cleaned up the v-neck with that stepped satin stitch. I also experimented with a couple of ways of shortening the shoulders by using ribbon ties but neither way works satisfactorily. More experiments needed. Here's how it all turned out:

I think the basic concept works but I also know that to make this a street ready garment several things would need to be changed. Firstly I would need a really long slip if I wore it out on a sunny day. The fabric is pretty heavy for the application. Something more thin and drapey could make this concept into a pretty party dress. A nice obi style sash would add some class to it. I experimented with a couple of belts but I don't have anything that is wide enough. My final criticism is that the dress does not look like anything the people of Sergeant York would wear... more of something a mountain family in Japan would wear for working in the fields.

I will be bringing this to the Seams Possible meeting tomorrow to see if they agree that I have fulfilled the challenge. I just hope they can hold their laughter until I am out of the room.