Saturday, March 05, 2011

Brocade McCalls 5349 (and another Heidi)

I am going to a wedding this week, on Thursday evening.
I was going to wear vintage Heidi, with a sparkly turquoise crystal necklace, but thinking about the dress code (which is "Fancy"), and seeing what my friends were planning on wearing (umm, Fancy!), I began to doubt myself and think vintage Heidi might be too 'daytime'. I went to the stash and found this chinese brocade I forgot had been given to me, and made McCall's 5349 which I have wanted to make for a long time. With some modifications, this is the result:
I made a plain sash out of the reverse of the brocade, instead of the cummerbund. I love the cummerbund, but the brocade was just too thick to sit properly. The pattern calls for an under-bodice (due to having the sheer overdress option) but I just made a panel and hand-stitched it to the bodice lining for a similar effect. I experimented with using the reverse side of the fabric for the panel, but the dark blue looked better. Here she is without the sash:
The sash has covered buttons and button loops. It's a bit sad that it falls down to my natural waist instead of sitting over the midriff band. Maybe I will tack it on and see how it looks.
A couple of weeks ago I made a quick modified Heidi out of red ponte de roma. Probably not a great idea because the fabric is thick so the pleats are a bit exaggerated, and overlocking and turning the neckline was a pain and didn't turn out so well. Oh and obviously I didn't press it before taking the photos, oops. It's wearable thankfully.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

I love the red version, particularly the exagerated-ness of the pleats.

moggy said...

Mmm that is some lovely brocade. I love the reversibleness of it.

Heidi in ponti? I like it!

Gail said...

I love the brocade dress, and the reversible belt is a nice touch.