ars gratia artis: {hairspray dress}

While I rarely make a dress for a particular occasion, I often use an upcomming event as incentive to finish the project in time to wear it for that. This is another one of those cases. I had already bought the fabric and designed this dress, but when I got a phone call right after for an audition for Hairspray I used that as a reason to finish it up right quick.

It certainly has an early 60's vibe going on, so it seemed a nice thing to wear to the audition. For the photos I ramped up the 60's-ness of it with a little hairsprayed 'do of my own.

I started with my trusty basic dress pattern that I have tweaked into shape over time. I just used the pattern from the hip up to make the bodice and then I changed the backline to be lower, but not nearly as low as I usually like. I figured I should have some dresses to cover up my tattoo when I need to (such as in an audition).

I love the moss green color on the fabric. I've been wanting to wear more green since setting my hair back to red. I also have a bad habit of only ever making solid colored items, which is something I'm trying to break out of. Checks may not be a huge leap, but it is a good step for me.

As for the skirt section, it was a giant (and I mean GIANT) rectangle...or rather two rectangles sewn together with a seam on each side. Then I gathered the heck out of it. In the end I wish I had made the rectangles even longer and the skirt even wider. The check pattern was perfect for running my gathering stitch through. I may have a machine now, but it is only capable of the very basics, as in a straight stitch or a zig-zag, so I still do alot by hand. Anyways, when I followed the stripe width for making the gathering stitch I discovered how cool it looked if I gathered and scrunched it in to the max. Alas, I'm not the type to do that precise of calculations in advance, so I had to space the gathering back out a bit to make it fit my hips again.

I must admit that when I did the dance call section of the audition I discovered just how fun it was to twirl in this skirt. Don't worry, I wore shorts under.

I didn't have any bias tape binding and didn't feel like making up interfacing panel patterns and such, so I decided to to a rolled edge for the armholes and along the neckline and backline. I'm not really sure if that was less work in the end...but it still looks pretty good to me. This fabric has a bit of stretch to it, so it did alright stretching along the curves, but it may have stretched out a *teensy* bit too much, as I see the slightest sag around those edges now. Just a little.