The pattern envelope calls for 5 3/8 yards of 45" fabric. I had already decided not to line the dress with my fashion fabric which would cut down the requirements a little bit. Unfortunately, it does not cut it down to 3 1/2 yards, which is what I have in my stash. In fact, three and a half yards is not even enough to cut out all of the skirt pieces... Talk about a fabric hog!
There is one possible way to cut this dress from this fabric, and involves a style sacrifice and a cardinal sin of sewing. The style sacrifice is pinching out the pleats in the back of the skirt. I really like that style element, however, if that was all that was required, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. The cardinal sin is cutting one piece upside down. Now, this isn't always a problem. However, I'm working with a satin, and even though it looks like there isn't a nap to the fabric, I'm certain that once the dress is made up the side back piece would look like a completely different colour of fabric. I've been there before, and I'm not going to make that mistake again!
And so, back to the drawing board. Unfortunately, being on the budget of the unemployed, I can't really justify going out to buy new fabric, tempting as it is... So, that leaves me with a very large piece of jersey. I sew very little with jersey, and though I do like the print, I'm not sure why I would have felt the need to but four yards (at least) of it for my stash. However, maybe I should be more thankful, because now I can use it to make a dress.
I'm attempting to drape a pattern that will in the end look something like the dress from Simplicity 1168, but with kimono sleeves and a v-neck rather than the original sweat heart halter. I'm not hugely fond of draping directly onto my own body, however, difficult times call for difficult measures. And I need a dress by Saturday!
