Ottobre Dress 02/2009 #04

Ottobre Dress - "almost" a dumpy dancer's dress ... needs work for this pear shaped body.




























I described this as a Japanese/Norwegian fusion pattern. It does remind me a bit of Japanese minimalism (Miyake perhaps?) and Van Den Akker's designs. I guess Japanese/Dutch fusion would be more appropriate.

It looks really cute in the drawings and photographs, but it has problems. Part of it is the changes I made, and part of it is the combo of my body shape and pattern. In short, the pattern was not created for tall pears.





















I did add pockets, which gave me a touch more width at the hipline. Not extremely flattering. However, the extra width I added to the skirt caused more hip width problems than the pockets.

I wanted to wear this dress to work, and I didn't want to be flashing massive amounts of thigh. As originally drafted, the side of the skirt hits mid-thigh. NOT attractive in my opinion.

However, having worn it for a day, the extra width is unnecessary. The shape of the skirt makes it hang such that thigh flash is not a concern ... there's quite of bit of protective underlayer wrapping hither and thither at that leg :).





















The side view shows the biggest problems.

#1) A bunch of fabric at my lower back, simply oodles of "this needs to be fixed with a sway back adjustment" ... about 2 inches by eyeballing it. I usually do 3/4" or so.

#2) This draft also renders my chest flat and my torso waistless.




















Oh, there they are!


Final problems are location of waistline. The draft has a low empire, I added an inch and it still hits two inches above my waist. I believe it is this that gives it the no body shape effect, especially with the weight of the skirt.

Possible future fixes ...
- lengthen bodice

- narrow waistline

- narrow skirt?

- narrow front neckline by 1/2" (it gapes a bit, not uncommon)


On the plus side, the dress does have some fun movement ... leg swirlies!

AND, the bodice seams are lovely.


As to construction details, I interfaced the side seams, neckline, armscyes, and bodice angle seams to minimize stretching with skirt weight.

I did not put a hem on the skirt, as the cheap knit fabric is heavy enough that it hangs well and does not curl.


I can see taking the bodice pieces and turning this into a top/tunic combo.