9 years ago I bought a length of sequinned, handpainted silk from Eastern Silks in Adelaide. 5 years ago I made it up into a sheath dress. This fitted beautifully at the time. Maybe not the most flattering cut for me but the sort of thing the fabric wanted to be. The painted areas are a little stiff so it doesn’t drape nicely. It needs to hang in a smooth fall to display well. Dress version #1 went to a party, had a drink spilled on it, got washed and…. shrank. I had been an idiot and not pre-washed the painted silk. To add insult, the pale pink silk satin prewashed lining didn’t shrink.
Original, before party and washing:
The poor distorted thing was far too splendid to ditch, but it took much time and thinking to come up with a way of resurrecting it. After hearing me musing about it, a clever friend suggested tabardising it. Eventually I concluded that was indeed the best idea. It was a lot of work though. Unpick the sides and shoulders, cut a deeper “armhole”, cut away most of the lining- which ended up remaining only as a facing for the front neckline. Then hand finish said front facing, and add facings of silk organza reclaimed from an old bridesmaid dress to all sides and newly cut back neckline. That might sound simple but by golly it was fiddly.
The shoulders needed more length to put the residual bust darts in the right place, and the sides needed ties for closures, so I pulled several coordinating skeins of perle cotton out of stash and plaited up some cords
This is what I ended up with. Pretty and floaty but obviously can’t be worn in public as is.
An underdress/slip of some kind was needed. After considering many lengths from stash, I settled on a heavy rayon twill of exactly the right red to match the red painted sections and brighten the outfit. It is a slightly tweaked version of the recent indigo linen remodel only cut through with no waist seam and a step out at the sides that I formed into inverted pleats.
Side seam with inverted pleat:
And together. The outfit is not quite a 1920’s reproduction, but is heavily influenced by garments from that time.
I did love the original front neckline, so that got to stay.
Shoulder detail:
Side ties:
and on:
It has been to a party (where it had another drink spilled on it, but it is now washed and fine). Is incredibly comfortable and swooshy to wear. Shoes are red plaited leather, opshop sourced though apparently unworn. I spent a couple of weeks wearing them intermittently to stretch them the needed amount across the forefoot. Thankfully that worked well enough to wear them for most of the party. Success I say.
Montjoye Makkinstuff 