Assignment, part 2

I finished miss V's dress! It's not the greatest picture (I made it a bit lighter to show the details), but she's nowhere near my size and don't feel like padding out the chest of my dressmaker's dummy for just one picture.

In fact it's a fairly simple dress: armhole princess seams, buttoned faux surplice center front panel, skirt with pleats at the center front and back panels. It is made from black cotton twill with a bit of stretch and closes with a blind zipper at the side. It will have long, bare shoulder sleeves with fingerloops, made from lycra netting, when it is really finished. V and I agreed it would be better to fit those directly on her arms once the dress was finished (but when that happens, I'll try to put the sleeves in and finish them straight away, and the dress will go home with her).

I made this dress at her request, and based on her design. This was the original drawing. I may have made it a bit more 'standard' in looks, but I think I had to. After all, I had to deal with things like human anatomy when going from sketch to garment.

I enjoyed the challenge of drafting for and fitting to such a different body shape. Although, I'm glad I decided to fit not just the sloper but also a muslin for this dress on her.

I will get yet more practice at fitting different shapes because next up (as in next serious project, I bet I will do a couple of simple spring-things for myself in between) will be a suit for my friend R (last year in early autumn, when wasn't busy, I persuaded her to let me make her a suit, we fitted slopers and muslins, but we only picked out fabric last month and she lost a lot of weight in the mean time, so there will be more fitting to be done first).