 | |
|
|
or "Magnolia"  This was the final project for my draping class. Instead of using the book as the basis for our design we had to go completely from scratch. We created a line consisting of five eveningwear drawings, with the stipulation that we use either a non-traditional fabric for the garment or embellish it in some way. I chose the second and 'quilted' the bodice of the dress with an outline of a magnolia blossom that I found online - thus, the Magnolia Gown. To continue with the floral theme, the back 'train' was fashioned to look like cascading flower petals.
Update! 04/05 - I finally got around to adding beading to the flower on the bodice (as I originally intended). See the pictures [here]. The Dress
The dress was draped in essentially three parts (though I ended up with many more pieces): the bodice, the skirt, and the petals. The bodice has a bateau neckline and scoops low in the back; the front has two french darts while the back was draped so that no darts were needed. It's lined in rose pink shantung and a layer of batting was inserted between the fashion fabric and the lining to provide the raised effect of the quilting. Originally, the flower was going to be embellished further with beading but I ran out of time. Update! - I finally did this. See the end result [here].
The skirt was the hardest part to drape. The front has a swag effect at the hips and when I did this the fabric was draped slightly on a bias. However, the back of the skirt is not on the bias so the side seams were off center something fierce. After numerous redraftings and even totally redraping the front I finally got it nearly right. The side seam still hangs slightly to the back but you can't really tell anyway. The final skirt was made out of white shantung with a two-inch, hand stitched blind hem. There are four petals on each side that vary in size depending on their location. They were draped similarly to a circle skirt so that they'd have some fullness and would 'float' as you walked. They're made out of white crepe (I wanted something a little different than the skirt that would drape really well). The slightly scalloped edges are serged and then turned under and stitched. They are attached only at the top of each petal, which is hidden by the petal on top of it, and then allowed to fall freely. For the photo shoot, Maggie was my willing victim. She twisted up her hair into an updo and wore pearl earrings. Since I hemmed the dress to fit me and Maggie is a good five inches shorter than I am, she wore really tall high heels that you still can't see, lol. 
Left to Right: front, side, back detail [up] Gallery Opening: "Portraits of Style" Update! 04/05
The color of the dress in real life is closest in the second picture. Before beading, I also did a little test with some extra cream satin and black beads. See the finished product [here] and a close up of the design [here].
[up] |
|
| |
