Elie Saab inspired magenta dress

posted by Max on 10:48 AM No Comments

The inspiration for this dress came from Elie Saab's 2014 Resort collection

Of course I had to make changes to the design. First of all, the client wanted a dress with long sleeves. Second, the fabric in my stash was a medium-heavy weight one, most likely a synthetic of some kind, not stretchy, with a lovely diagonal ribbing effect. At first, in the store, I assumed it was a ribbed jersey, however... The fabric sewed beautifully, though the colour bled when I decanted the fabric prior to working with it. Did not shrink, I think. And third, the client wanted a more modest gorge treatment.

This was my second ever dress made from the Rundschau (Мюллер) pattern. I copied the front and back pieces and freehanded the style lines on them. Then, copied pattern pieces with seam allowances.

Construction: there is horsehair interfacing in the front to keep the shape of the upper part of the dress. There are thin hand-made shoulder pads, and sleeve roll pads (bias strips of soft medium weight wool). Invisible zipper (my second in a dress). The dress is fully lined.