Last weekend I prepped my garden for an outdoor space for spring/summer. I cleaned the tiles with a pressure washer, washed last year’s flower pots, and planted new flowers. It felt really good to touch the soil and organize the plants. It reminded me of a villa in the mountains of Turkey when I was a child. I imagined my father cleaning the weeds around the flowers in the garden. He was planting different kinds of flowers: hibiscus, roses, snapdragons, daisies… After a long day of work, he was sitting in the garden enjoying the view from above. Recalling that scene gave me immediate peace. I also remembered the flower dress I made last March. I spent hours hand sewing.The dress is so precious to me and I can finally share the details with you.
Inspiration
When it comes to flower prints, Erdem Morarioglu immediately comes to mind. He is a British fashion designer of Turkish descent. He is known for his soft floral dresses. His prints are always fascinating. Below are my favorites from the 2010 FW and SS collections. Very feminine, romantic and comfortable. He always seems to find the best way to combine comfort, elegance and femininity into his designs, which has always inspired me.
pattern making
I used the drape method on the mannequin to achieve this pattern. Drape the first design you envisioned with a blank canvas fabric.
The next step was to transfer the drape onto the flat pattern. Before doing that, I marked all the style lines, notches, and important creases. Instead, I removed the pins from the fabric and laid it flat on the pattern paper, transferring all the patterns onto the paper.
sewing
The fabric for this project was a vintage silk fabric from an Italian manufacturer. I found it at my local deadstock fabric outlet. It has a satin finish and is medium weight.
There was only 1.2 meters of fabric, so it was a real puzzle to fit all the pieces.
It was the last piece of fabric left in the shop, so I’m glad it fit 🙂
I saved all the rest as usual for future use in other projects.
Once all the pattern pieces were in place, they were carefully fixed using a very fine needle so as not to damage the delicate fabric.
I used very sharp scissors to cut the pattern out of the silk. Never underestimate the importance of a good pair of sharp scissors when cutting silk. Dull scissors can easily ruin the fabric.
I didn’t follow the grain lines on some of the smaller pattern pieces to match the pattern to the fabric.I had to reinforce these patterns with interlining before proceeding to sewing to avoid unwanted stretching.
Sew the front and back with a sewing machine so that the line is clean.
Then I moved to the mannequin and draped and tacked the last piece onto the mannequin.
This allowed me to correct any errors along the way before making the final stitches on the machine to avoid unnecessary damage to the fabric.
The shoulder pieces have facings, and the shoulder pads are placed between them to increase the height.
I finished the armholes on the mannequin by hand-sewing because I couldn’t afford to damage the fabric if I didn’t like how the arms sat after the last stitch. I made. I tried to match the colors with the print below to blend the button with the background 🙂
final look
I hope you enjoy the finished dress. If you want to create your own version, I’d be happy to help. Send me a message on Instagram or write a comment here 🙂
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cheers,
all