… the
sign of the maiden.
This delicate feathery ivory lace fabric was a very long term resident in my stash. It’s a tricky customer; sooo cobwebby and so sparse that it has absolutely no structure or form whatsoever and it both stretches and collapses upon itself. For years I’ve wondered what on earth I could do with it. Finally I just decided a simple dress would do, and then tried to work out how its wayward flightiness could be tethered into some sort of “dress” arrangement.
The white lace is from Fabulous Fabrics years ago, and for the bands and collar I used a perfectly colour-matched
ivory swiss dotted cotton voile with sparsely scattered fluffy dots, bought at Potters Textiles
last year. The buttons… ah, the
buttons! They are lovely, antique
mother-of-pearl beauties that were given to me by ElleC… thank you so much
ElleC! I used two of these buttons
previously in this blouse and now this new dress uses the remainder… and, yes! It
was really really hard to cut them
off their little card, but I decided that they are too lovely to sit in a
button tin forever and they deserve to be seen! I think the marquise shape of the buttons is a purr-fect match for that same-shaped motif in the lace 🙂
I had
finagled the number of buttonholes to use every single last one of the buttons
so I was pretty darn devastated when the shank of one broke as I was stitching
it on… noooooo! And a snowflake’s chance in hell of ever finding another one!
So it was oh-so carefully super-glued together before stitching on, however I was still worried about it so
I’ve super-glued it and its
buttonhole together and to the dress.
Now the left sleeve can never
be unbuttoned and I expect I will be obsessively checking to see that that
button is still in place forever and ever after. (sigh)
strip of the same ivory cotton, and the armscyes and side seams are encased with Seams Great, a gift from velosewer; thanks Maria! the Seams Great is a sheer and flimsy creamy-coloured tape and is virtually invisible from the right side of the garment.
I experimented with a few different finishes for the lower edge of
the dress and all my results were just too hideous for words so the lower
hem is simply cut straight and left unfinished. This does leave quite a nice ethereal lightness and floatiness to the
lower hem, and fortunately the fabric will not fray.
narrowed to a finished width of 2.5cm; which is visually more in keeping with
the delicacy of the lace fabric. the sleeves are shortened and I sewed a very
narrow band as a one piece sleeve-band placket, pictured below.
The front bodice was rotated to eliminate the bust dart because the fabric is so delicate sewing darts would have been difficult and they would have looked weird too. I cut the
sides to be a straight and wide A-line from underarm to the lower hem.
Burdastyle magazine 05/2010, 111 modified, ivory lace and ivory cotton, my review of this pattern here
Burda 8071, powder blue silk, details here
gosh that is lovely. Virgo is my sign and I would never have thought up this creation. But I do love a white dress. so pretty.
It is stunning. You never cease to amaze me.
Wow! Absolutely stunning! Isn't it funny how fabric sits in the stash until it is ready to tell you what it wants to be?!
Also great to see that the weather is looking good – I am Adelaide bound next week, can't wait to visit Oz 🙂
Gorgeous! Love lace, looks great on the beach 🙂
Oooooh! I love lace and this was a terrific use for a stretchy one. Shame about the button tho', hopefully the glu holds, 'coz they are real cute 🙂
Beautiful idea – and great idea for the button!
Your dress is so pretty. I love it over the bluish underdress against your water/sky backdrop, it is so visually satisfying and displays the lace pattern so nicely. I hope your button repair is resilient!
Swoon! It's really stunning; your vision amazes and inspires me,
thank you Wendy 🙂
I love lace! And I love your dress. Your workmanship is superb! I like your idea to fix the button! They are so cute, it would have been shame if you could not use them on this dress. They are a perfect match! I am in awe!
Just so lovely. Congratulations on this it looks like a tricky sew. Good luck too for that button!
that dress turned out brilliant – I love it
This is one of the most beautiful dresses I have seen. It is absolutely gorgeous and oh so feminine–love it! I can relate with what happened with your button. That happened to me not too long ago and I cried. It's so hard when you are making something with just the perfect touches and then something goes wrong.
Lovely dress. Great idea to use the lace like that.
thank you so much Vicki 🙂
I adore every single thing about this dress. The buttons! The fabric! The blue silk shift! I want it. I want the skill to be able to make something like it (I have lace in my stash too). So pleased to see Sienna 🙂
When I hosted velosewer, I asked her what she was looking for. She said that seams great is difficult/impossible to get in Australia. When we met up later for dinner, I handed her my entire stash of seams great (~3-4 rolls) as I determined it was too rough/scratchy for my skin. I wonder if your SG came from my stash? If so, you put it to lovely use.
Aaah, I really like this, the clever combo of the lace held together by the bands – lovely!
Hello, I´m back 🙂
Very clever use of that lace. A shirt dress: Perfect! I love your finishes, I always learn something new.
And now I´m off to find out about your screen-printing, looks very interesting…
Virgo is my star sign so you do have to take the rough with the smooth hehe. Very pretty. https://www.facebook.com/SassySewingBees
Would never have thought of sewing a shirt dress with this lace but it turned out great! The collar and placket must have been difficult to sew on, this is some awesome skills you have!
This might be my favorite of all your makes. Lovely dress.
thank you Carol 🙂
oh oh oh that's lovely!
That's beautiful! I love those buttons.
Gorgeous lace fabric; glad you found a way to make it work. The dress and petticoat are beautiful!
The dress and your technical skills and creativity are amazing. I love how you take a pattern and see right past the styling onto some completely different vision of it. Very inspiring!
What a lovely and interesting use of that amazing fabric. Lovely job.
Wow, I almost fainted at seeing those buttons. They're perfect for this dress and the fabric is stunning. Seriously, you chose the most beautiful fabric especially when it comes to lace. And your technical skills and attention to detail with finishing off the shoulder seams and armhole, wow. One day I hope to achieve your level of skill. This blog post just inspired me to get back to what I'm sewing (after my morning coffee).
Gorgeous!!! It looks great on you! This kind of fabric are very difficult to me, but your dress is perfect, Carolyn your projects are amazing!!!!
This is so pretty, amazing job.
Beautiful shirtdress!!! Love the finishes, they are so delicate. I didn't know about the "great seams" product, thanks for sharing!
Stunning. I am continually in awe of your skills.
I have very much appreciated all of your horoscope series so far; this is an especially beautiful dress.
The first thing I noticed was the hem. I love the way it looks. Beautiful!
Swooningly beautiful dress. I love dressy fabrics worn very casually.
It's gorgeous lace. Those buttons are a great choice. I love how you've used a basic shirt dress style for this.
I used the same seams great on Mum's lace cardi – as you know. As Grace said, if you need more 'seams great', I have Grace's stash. She was a super generous host. And I have a whole roll of blue FOE too.
Thanks for the construction details. It's helpful to know how you went about stabilizing the shoulder seams and why you decided to forgo the hem. The result is stunning.
You're such a freaking genius. I love how you refuse to let anything languish in your stash and just MAKE IT WORK in the smartest, most stylish ways. This is a GORGEOUS result of your ingenuity. Love love love.
what a gorgeous dress! i love the fabric, and love all the little details on the dress.. i plan on making white lace dress for ages, just can't find the right lace yet.. also, i say yes to stash busting! i have a few meters of silk that were given to me years ago, and it pisses me off i haven't turned it into a garment yet.. hope i'll fix that soon 🙂
I love lace dresses and your's is FABULOUS!!! Those buttons are awesome as well! Now I really really want to try my hand at a lace dress… poo on these bridesmaid dresses I'm working on! 🙂
I love the dress! It's feminine without being too girly. And, of course, your construction is lovely.
I can't believe this gorgeous fabric was sitting at the back of your stash for so long. It's so lovely, I think the unfinished hem is a really nice detail.
This is beautiful – what more can I say……….
thanks Sheree 🙂
wow, this is beautiful! such a clever way to use the lace with the contrast collar. i'm totally in love with this!
Ethereal and perfect. Love it over your periwinkle slip, I imagine it would also be indulgently vacation-y slipped over a bathing suit with a big floppy hat. Thanks for sharing, and inspiring the rest of us! I do really like this little zodiac signs project you've slipped in on us these past few months. =)
Next time you glue something like that button, try a more durable glue than superglue, which gets weak in water (so when you wash the dress the button may fall apart AGAIN). 2-part epoxy is very good; it gets a bit weak in water but more slowly than superglue. I do LOVE that fabric, and you did a bang-up job with that dress!
Sooooo pretty! Perfect match of simple pattern to floaty fabric.
Stunning. 🙂 I love that lace! And so interesting that the only stable parts are tiny in comparison to the amount of lace. Brilliant, as always, Carolyn!
Love this Carolyn! So pretty!
Oh my this is simply beautiful! You have showcased that lace just perfectly.
That is a seriously gorgeous dress, and great use of that delectable fabric!
Really lovely! It's a perfect pattern for the fabric.
It's very pretty. Perfect for spring, I think 🙂
Sorry I am so late to the party! This fabric is glorious, and I can certainly see why you waited so long to use it. I believe I have the solution to the button problem, I have more. If you email me your address I will send you a couple of replacements, a dress this lovely deserves to have sleeves that can unbutton!
Çok güzel bir elbise. Bana da süper bir fikir verdi. Çok beğendim. Ellerinize sağlık.