PWC Gala

Feb. 2, Ground Hogs day.  Apparently the ground hog did not see his shadow so it will be an early spring. As anyone who lives up north I'm sure would agree - I hope that's true.  I am so sick of the cold and grey days.
Well work has begun on my Gala dress.  I've finished the initial muslin.  There are a few challenges that I need to figure out.
1) The hood drape.  In order to expose the back when the hood is down it needs to be really long and I was having a hard time making it look right when the hood was up.  Now will it ever be worn with the hood up?  Probably only on a runway to make a statement.  It has a real 1930's feel to it.  Maybe I will wear it hood up.  Its the only kind of hat I look good in.

As I pondered this dilemma the thought struck me.  What about exposing the back when the hood is up as well.  This created another set of issues, but once I removed some of the excess fabric that would normally fit around the back neck it really began to fall into place and I think looks really cool either with the hood up or down.

2) The question of under-structure is always an issue when you have a garment that is low cut in the front and in the back.  As of this date I'm still trying to figure this one out.

and lastly - what to do with the skirt.  Do I make it a wrap, faux-wrap or just an normal skirt with a side front slit.

That will have to wait a few more days to figure out.

March 7
Well a month has gone by and I am just getting back to writing about this.  The Gala was last weekend and it was a really fun night.  And yes, I did get my dress done.  Just a few hours before the Gala started - but it was done.  Before I show you the final results, let me fill you in a little more on the process.

I did figure out how to make the back open with both the hood up and down.  I treated it as if there were a back neckline, but the back hood was not attached.  I had to scoop the neckline portion of the hood so that when it was down the back was exposed.  I ended up attaching the hood front as if it was a label, so that the hood extended from the front bodice at the bust-line all the way up.

With both the front and the back being a V-neck I decided to add elastic across the back in several places to keep the shoulders up.  Because I wanted to still be able to wear a bra it gave me another reason for adding a strap across the back.  There were several reasons for wanting to wear a bra with the garment.  1) I'm just more comfortable. 2) I need any help I can get creating a bust.  3) I needed the use of the straps to help to hold up the fabric on the shoulders.

I really labored over the bra situation.  That may seem funny, but the undergarments can greatly impact the rest of the garment.  I tried various bras and corset combinations.  Trying to make them myself by using existing items and connecting them.  None seemed to be accomplishing what I needed.  Finally I found an existing bra that is made for plunging necklines.  It wasn't the right size so I copied what they did and made it with an existing bra, lace and under wires that I had bought for swimwear years ago.  It worked out great and gave the dress the necessary support in the shoulders.  With the hood there was a lot of fabric and weight that needed to be kept in place, the bra straps and bra-strap tamers (available at stores) accomplished that need.



My final dilemma was the skirt.  I really loved the way that the top turned out and the hood.  But I couldn't figure out what to do with the skirt.  When I put the dress on and did a wrap skirt, I felt that the dress was beginning to wear me and it was making me look frumpy.  Too much fabric on a short person can be very overpowering.  I began to play with different ideas and drapes.  Finally I landed on making an underskirt that was mid thigh and an over skirt that opened at side front cascading down into a full length skirt.

The one reason that I love to actually wear the things I make is because that's when you learn if your idea really worked.  There were things that worked great about this design and things that need to be redone.  The shoulders, back and hood worked wonderfully.  I had added details at the waist in the form of belting.  This accomplished 2 things - it  tied the front into the back (This is one of my pet peeves - when the front and the back don't relate.) and it helped to make the waist look thinner - always a plus.  But the draw back was that this.  Because the whole garment is stretch fabric I didn't need to put a zipper in.  I used decorative elastic for the straps and the belting, but I didn't want to attach the belting all the way around.  When I sat down for the first time one of the tacks snapped and the bottom belting came loose.  All night long I was fiddling with the belting trying to keep it in the right place.  And lastly the thing that was the most annoying.  I made the underskirt about 2 inches too short.  All night long I was pulling down on it and having to be really careful when I sat down.  Thank God for napkins they helped to cover my legs when my dress crept up too high.  It was also dark and I could use the long skirt to cover up as well.

Note - I'm not a model and don't like being the model.  My daughter Shiloh wants me to make her my model for the next few projects.  We'll see.

All in all I felt good about the design and I did get several compliments.
Let me know what you think

Next - Project Runway projects.