RTW Knockoff Competition - Done!

The cold that I was battling last week turned into a really bad cold that wrote me off for the entire weekend. I recovered a bit through the week but now I have developed a really nasty lung infection and am not feeling myself at all. Fortunately through clever prioritisation of tasks (ie. not doing any housework or grocery shopping) I have been able to work on my competition entry and, yay, it is now done!

There weren't any particularly difficult aspects of construction, so I focused on precision, neatness and good fit. Here are a few photos of some processes...


One of the first steps was to make the french darts. Because I made an fba there was a lot of fabric in the dart so I sewed a line of zig zag about 6mm from the sewing line and trimmed away the excess fabric.

I really like how the french dart changes the grainline of the side front. It's a subtle feature but I think it's pretty.

I ended up reshaping the dart slightly to cut in under the bust. It was looking a bit sack-ish before this alteration.

I have a traumatic relationship with invisible zips. When I used to teach I always managed to get my students to do awesome invisible zips so it's not that I don't know how to do it, it's just hit or miss as to how well it goes on any given day. I have learned to do them early in a sewing session, after I've warmed up but before I start to get tired and lose focus. I am super happy with the zip in this dress though - it is almost invisible!

I finished most of the seams with a Hong Kong binding. The seams that are completely enclosed (shoulder and armhole) are finished with zig zag. The fabric is very ravelly so a line of overlocking would probably just pull away. I like the look of bound seams anyway. I overlocked (serged) the seams on the lining.
This is the hem facing on the front. You can see the inside of the centre front pleat.

Here is the front pleat and hemline from the outside. The hemline shaping is a lot less exaggerated than the inspiration dress but I do not have legs like a baby giraffe so I prefer to keep them covered up.
Here is the finished front view on the dummy.
And the finished back view. I've just realised ow peculiar the mirror reflection looks. My dress does not have three sleeves!

Being winter it's hard to get daylight shots, which I need for black garments but I have a day off tomorrow and my fella is finishing at lunch time so he has said he'll take pictures of me in the dress when he gets home tomorrow. If you're lucky I'll be well enough to wash my hair and put on some slap, otherwise I'll just have to blur out my head or something!