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  • Fashion
    • All Inspiration Pregnancy Style and Tips Shopping List Stefanie’s Fashion Portfolio Styling Tips
      Fashion Design

      Designed By Stefanie: Leopard Curved Seam Dress

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Fashion DesignStefanie's Fashion Portfolio

Designed by Stefanie: Rainbow Ikat Dress

From the moment I saw this beautiful rainbow ikat fabric, I knew I had to make a bold dress with it. Too often we see a larger scale print like this and we think of making something simple, but I really wanted to push the boundaries and make something with strong lines and shape. Since I’m on a bit of a print mixing tear I also bought this olive ikat for trim, as I think the color and scale of the checks plays really well with the bold color of the main fabric.

Rainbow Ikat Dress Rainbow Ikat Dress
Sometimes I have a design in mind when I pick a fabric, other times I let the fabric inspire me first. For this, the fabric just spoke to me in the store while I was playing around with it, and immediately I knew voluminous sleeves and ankle length, with some sort of deep V neckline to show skin. What I struggled with more is the exact shape of the front X, and how the fabric would connect at the waist, be loose in the back and still show skin at the sides. I don’t draw everything out before hand because I my drawing skills are so bad I end up hating everything I sketch, but I usually have a good idea in my mind that I need to just start pattern making to realize fully. I ended up draping this entire pattern which was necessary to get the balance of fullness right, and help me understand which pieces would connect where (and how to get myself in an out of the dress- often overlooked!).
Rainbow Ikat Dress

My muslin came out fairly iffy, but partly because I needed to do a better job of marking the gather stitches at the front under the X- if they are off even by a little, it throws the whole X shape off, which ruins the look of the dress. I made sure in the final fabric I was really diligent about connecting the pieces to the front X panel, and ironed with every stage to make it easier on myself.

Rainbow Ikat Dress

I did run into a few hiccups while sewing this piece though, which I shouldn’t share but… oh well. I sewed one of the sleeves on inside out, and didn’t realize until I was hemming it later. The seam underneath the sleeve is facing out, and you can see the overlock stitches! I didn’t go back and change it because while this fabric is a bit heavier in weight, it is loosely woven, and frays easily. I didn’t want to risk taking something out and having the whole seam messed up and be visible, so I just kept it. It’s barely visible, but a good reminder to myself to always triple check everything before I sew!

Rainbow Ikat Dress

Another hiccup I ran into was accidentally using iron-on fusible instead of interfacing. Plain fusible is intended to fuse fabrics together, for example, for quilting or appliqué. But I didn’t have anything labeled (I need serious help organizing my craft room), and wondered why all of a sudden everything was so sticky. The fusible wasn’t going anywhere once I ironed it, but luckily, the fusible did provide just a hint of thickness to the olive ikat for structure. Surprisingly, it worked out well, and actually made the hand sewing that I needed to do later, easier to sew.

Rainbow Ikat Dress

In the end, I really could not be more pleased with the result. This dress may seem crazy and specific, but I can see myself wearing this to speaking events, conferences, wine tasting and more, and trust me when I say that Marina will inherit this one day. Other than the inside out sleeve, the piece is finished perfectly (thanks to finally buying a serger) which means it will stand the test of time!

Designed by Stefanie: Rainbow Ikat Dress was last modified: March 25th, 2019 by Stefanie
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Marina Update: 1 Year
Ikat Stripe Two-Piece Set
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Designed By Stefanie: Ikat Stripe Two-Piece Set

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