3rd Post: Designing My Daughter's Outfit
for the Wedding Reception

 

 We first went shopping. We found a pretty coral lace top with underlying coral camisole that my daughter really liked. But it had no skirt. So I decided to make a shirt to match. We bought the top and matching pants.

My daughter's feet are hard to fit. Finding shoes would have been impossible, so we decided to use the only pair of shoes she had that would be suitable. The top is coral, the shoes are dart green. That meant she would wear a coral and dark green ensemble.

The best idea seems to be a straight coral shirt with three box pleats inserted with green fabric so as she would walk the dark green would show and match the shoes. Two box pleats in the front, one in center back. The skirt would be long, but  higher in the front to give a little more pizzazz and ease in walking.  If I could find a dark green knit I could make a dark green camisole for her to wear under the lace top. Here's the design:

I found matching coral linen and the dark knit I needed at Gaffney Fabrics here in Philadelphia (5401 Germantown Ave). The dark green knit even has sparkles! And, wonder of wonders, they even had coral China silk for the lining. So next was drafting the skirt pattern and sewing the skirt.

 

On the right is a diagram of how the kick pleats would be drafted. This is a design that one never sees in ready-made garments because it would use too much fabric.

 

Here is the layout. The back box pleat has a two inch seam allowance, but in order to cut the skirt from one length of the fabric the front box pleats each had to have a 1 1/2 inch seam allowance

This picture shows me putting the gauges on my sewing machine for 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch seam allowances needed to sew the box pleat seams. In case you are wondering, I sew on a Pfaff 260, a semi-industrial machine in an industrial table that was manufactured probably in the 1940s. It was designed for industrial personnel to use at home. It is a lock-stitch zigzag machine.

 

That's all for now,

Laurel www.Laurelhoffmann.com- published books

www.ContemporaryFashionEducation.com- school
Facebook: Contemporary Fashion Education, Inc.
http://contemporaryfashioneducation.blogspot.com/
P:215 884 7065, F:215 884 3727, C:610 908 7222