Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Do I Even Want to Go Down This Road?

The September issue of Burda Style was waiting for me when I got home yesterday and this dress caught my eye: I love it. The shape is right up my alley, the seaming is great, and the bodice is interesting and unique.

I love the line drawing, and it looks like it would be easy to put together.

But... I've made similar Burda dresses before. In fact, the one I'm working on now, 07-2011-131 could be the plain little sister of this dress- princess seams, wide neckline, etc.


And let's take a good look at the model photo. Notice anything unusual?


Is it just me, or does it look like the dress is falling off of her right shoulder? That neckline is wide. And low. Even with the flap thingies, that's a lot of skin showing. (And speaking of unusual- those tights/hose are an odd color. I'm all for hose coming back, but those just look weird.)

I love the dress, but do I really want to bother with trying to make this work? I'd definitely have to raise the neckline and that would probably throw off the whole bodice. This might be one of those dresses that only works on paper. It's too bad, too because I can just see this made up in fuschia...



10 comments:

Andrea said...

WOW! That is a stunner! I think raising the neckline would be easy. Just add an inch or so to the triangle piece at the CF. It wouldn't be so heartshaped. The bigger problem looks to me to be the shoulders. It really depends on how far apart the flappy/pointy bits are. The line drawing doesn't show much room to bring the center edges together, but the picture shows the neckline quite wide. It think it's worth a quick and dirty muslin from a cheap, thrift store $1 sheet. It's so beautiful, it deserves a chance.

Audrey said...

I loved this dress too. It is a close replica of the Roland Mouret
Macha stretch dress from the Spring 2011 Collection). I first noticed the dress on Heidi Klum in an episode of Project Runway two weeks ago. I thought it was stunning in the plum color (http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/2011/08/10/).

As far as the Burda photo I noticed the dress falling off the model's shoulder, But I have noticed that many models have wide, compared to their hips, flat shoulders which sometimes cause fit issues in the shoulder area of the sample garment. That said I would still check the fit of the shoulder area of this dress carfully before making it.

VictorianKitty (Sophistique Noir) said...

Just a suggestion: if the shoulders don't stay in place you could connect the points with a thin strip of the same fabric. Hard to describe, but I have a gorgeous Stop Staring dress that has a strip of fabric across the neckline like that and it's quite elegant. Maybe it would look nice on this dress, maybe not.

Either way, I say this dress is beautiful and unique enough to be worth a shot. Maybe the shoulder issue is just due to the model's body type, as Audrey said!

Jane M said...

That is one amazing dress and I think it's worth the effort. At least you know ahead of time to check out the shoulder area carefully. That's the benefit of a real model versus some fashion illustration.

Amy Bailes said...

Think she's got a bra on? It would have to be a pair of those stickies, since I would think that even a strapless would show under that neckline - it is pretty though.

Regarding the hose - hose or a really bad spray tan?

Sorry, feeling a bit snarky today. ;)

Mommyof2girlz/StephD said...

Of course you do..lol I love the bodice, so cool and sleek. You can totally rock this out :)

Mary Nanna said...

Yeah, you do, and me too.

LinB said...

It's the triangle bits sticking into the neckline that make this dress so distinctive. Couldn't you just face some triangles and insert them into the princess seams of a pattern you already own, on which you've already resolved shoulder/neckline fit issues? Then all you'll have to muck about with is how big to make the triangles, whether to interface them, where to insert them, etc. Simplicity has a brand new Fall pattern with a raised waist, princess-dart dress that comes in cup sizes. (Can't remember pattern number; just saw catalog in fabric store yesterday. Dress on model is pale aqua)

SewingMrsC said...

Go for it, it's a great dress! Muslin the bodice bit first and I'm sure you'll get it to work for you. Can't wait to see it :)

Rose said...

This dress is stunning. I hope that you decide to give it a try.